












m 






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Class h\l 5 ata . 

Book 

Copyright N?_ 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 




FRANCIS MURPHY. Esq. 



BATTLING 



WITH 



THE DEMON; 



OR, 



THE PROGRESS OF TEMPERANCE 



IN THE STRUGGLES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT. 

COMBINED WITH FACT, ARGUMENT AND ILLUSTRATION, SHOWING THE 

POWER FOR MISERY, CRIME AND DEGRADATION AMONG 

MANKIND OF THE DIRE 

CURSE OF STRONG DRINK ; 

TOGETHER WITH AN ACCOUNT OF THE LABORS OF ORGANIZATIONS, 
INEBRIATE ASYLUMS, CRUSADES AND THE GREAT TEMPER- 
ANCE APOSTLES, DOW, GOUGH, MURPHY, REYNOLDS, 
AND OTHERS, IN THE CAUSE OF 

GOSPEL TEMPERANCE. 

'^ y BY 

HON. pA. DACUS, Ph. D., 

BORMERLY OF EDITORIAL STAFF ST. LOUIS REPUBLICAN, AND AUTHOR OF " IDLE- 
WILD," ''annals of THE GREAT STRIKES," "A CONFIDENCE GAME," ETC. 

WITH 

INTRODUCTION BY R. R. SCOTT, ESQ., 

PAST GRAND WORTHY SECRETARY GRAND LODGE OF MISSOURI, AND RIGHT 
,„j WORTHY GRAND TREAS. GRAND LODGE OF THE WORLD, I. O. G. T. 



ILLUSTRATED. 



SAINT LOUIS : 

SCAMMELL & COMPANY. 

CHICAGO : J. S. GOODMAN. HARTFORD : T. BELKNAP. 

SAN FRANCISCO : A. R01VLA.N & CO. 




1878. 



H V B7i'=\ ^. 

•B2- 



COPYRIGHT. 

SCAMMELL & COMPANY. 
1877. 



mTRODUCTlON. 

Intemperaistce degrades tlie mind, prostrates 
the body and ruins the soul. The victim of this 
terrible vice is incapable of well directed mental 
effort; powerless to meet sustained physical 
exertions, and unable to draw nice moral dis- 
tinctions; and hence the nobler aspirations of the 
soul never come to the drunkard who continuesL 
his course of debauchery. Intemperance then 
demoralizes society ; stops the progress of com- 
munities ; undermines the power of nations, and 
leaves the marks of devastation and ruin in its 
track. It is the curse of curses, '' the crime of 
crimes." It destroys the individual and wastes 
the resources of the people. The wealth of na- 
tions vanishes before its power even as the flow- 
ers are withered by the blighting touch of un- 
timely frosts. 

It is chen the duty of every one who has realized, 
either in his own personal experience or through 
the faculty of observation, its disastrous eftects, 
to give aid to every effort to redeem from the 
thraldom of this monster evil — intemperance — 
all who have fallen into the snare. Those who 



VI INTRODITCTIOlf. 

tave tasted of tlie bitter fruits of tmrestricted 
indulgence in strong drinks ; those who have 
Ibeen lifted out of the slimy pools of degradation 
into which this vice had hurled them ; those who 
have felt the cankering fetters of an insatiable 
appetite, must necessarily sympathize with every 
effort to break these bonds asunder. 

It matters not under what name such efforts 
may be conducted ; the only question the true 
temperance advocate can ask, is this : Will this 
effort assist men to climb out of the dreadful pit 
into which they have fallen ? That is all. If it 
be answered in the affirmative, then it becomes 
the duty of the friends of temperance — it matters 
not what name may be incribed on their banner — 
to lend their aid in promoting the movement. 
The cause is advanced, and the temperance sen- 
timent is strengthened, and every temperance 
organization — Good Templars, Sons of Temper- 
ance, Friends of Temperance, all orders are 
made stronger by the growth of a favorable pub- 
lic opinion. 

The Women's Temperance Crusade accom- 
plished a work which does not appear plain to 
the casual observer. There is not a temperance 
order in the land which did not receive great ac-_ 
cessions of numbers in consequence of that re- 
markable uprising. The writer is in a posidon to 
know that many hundreds of most excellent and 
worthy Good Templars were brought into frater- 
nal relations with the order during the contin- 



IJSTTRODUCTIOlSr. Vll 

nance of that movement and after it had ceased 
to actively operate. So of every temperaLce 
movement. The Sons of Temperance grew out 
of the Washingtonian movement ; and the Good 
Templars, a great and noble order, have gathered 
in the sheaves of the harvest of every reform 
movement. Make men sober first ; inspire them 
with love for the cause; and Ihey will surely seek 
those organizations having the character of per- 
manence. 

It afibrds me no little pleasure to contribute 
something to the cause which I love, through the 
pages of this book. " Battling with the Demon" 
is an appropriate title. It has been a long and 
fierce conflict; it has not yet ended; there is much 
remaining for all the friends of temperance to do; 
and it matters not under what name they may be 
known, so long as the cause of Temperance is 
promoted. In unity there is strength. The enemy 
is organized and unscrupulous, possessed of re- 
sources, vitality and persistent purpose. It cer- 
tainly requires the united efforts of every friend of 
the temperance cause to combat the enemy. First 
conquer the foe, and then minor concerns can be 
attended to. There is no time to consider nice 
questions in casuistry when the house is on fire. 
Let us unite in extinguishing the flames ; after- 
ward we shall have time enough to consider the 
matter of arranging the furniture. It is a matter 
of personal gratification to me to join in sending 
out to the friends of temperance this book, which 



VIU n^TKODUCTION. 

indeed constitutes a formidable weapon in the 
hands of the advocates of our glorious cause. As 
a history, as a summary of the arguments, as a 
chronicle of the prominent events in the recent 
movements in the interest of temperance, we feel 
assured, from our knowledge of the author, that 
" Battling with the Demon " will prove to the 
friends of the cause, all over this country, a val- 
uable and interesting work. 

R. R. Scott. 

St. Louis, Mo., February, 1878. 
t 



LIST 

OF 

ILLUSTRATIONS. 



>»> 



PAGKS. 

POETRAIT FRANCIS MUEPHY, ESQ., FEOKTISPIECE.-^-- 

"warming up," _ - - . - 108 '— 

PORTRAIT OF HON. KEAL DOW - - - 172-' 

" FATHER MATHEW - - 190-'-" 

" HON. JOHN B. GOUGH - - 252 

" DR. DIO LEWIS - - - 252 

" " O. P. JEWETT, ESQ. - - 252 

" MRS. RUNYAN - - - 252 

" MOTHER STEWART - - 252 

CRUSADING — AN UNWELCOME CALL - - 294"^ 

THE DEMONIACAL HARVEST - - - 334 -^ 

HOMEWARD BOUND - - - - 356 

HOME AS FOUND - - - - - 356 

PORTRAIT OF HON. WM. E. DODGE - - 412 

*^ " MISS FRANCES E. WILLARD - 460 -^ 

** " DR. HENRY A. REYNOLDS - 496 

CATHOLIC CENTENNIAL TEMPERANCE 

FOUNTAIN ----- 522 



CONTENTS. 



INTRODUCTION - - - - - 5-8 

CHAPTER I. 

THE CURSE OF ALL AGES AND CLIMES - - 15-35 

CHAPTER 11. 

THE TESTIMONY OF THE WORLD'S TEACHERS 36-47 

CHAPTER HI. 

INTEMPERANCE AS A DESTROYER OF NA- 
TIONS 48-56 

CHAPTER TV. 

THE BIBLE AGAINST INTEMPERANCE - - 57-67 

CHAPTER Y. 

THE NEW TESTAMENT COMMANDS TEMPER 

ANCE - - - . - . 68-83 

CHAPTER YI. 

MODERN TEMPERANCE MOVEMENTS - - 84-101 

CHAPTER YH. 

PREVALENCE OF INTEMPERANCE IN AMER- 
ICA 102-118 

CHAPTER Yin. 

SOME OLD TIME TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES - 119-135 



t I 



Xll C0^*TE^'T3. 

CHAPTEE IX. 

PEOGEESS OF THE TEMPEEAXCE MOVEMENT 136-151 

CHAPTER X. 
THE T^ASH]:^'GTo^'IA^' eefoem p^etital - 152-159 

CHAPTER XL 
OEGA^'IZ]:^'G the foece$ foe the conflict 160-178 

CHAPTER Xn. 

GLOEIOrS MISSION' OF FATHEE MATHEW - 179-192 

CHAPTER Xni. 

MEDICAL SCEE^'CE LN" FATOE OF TEMPEE- 

A^'CE .... . . 193-207 

CHAPTER XIV. 

LEGAL OPLN'IOXS FN" EEGAED TO THE LIQUOR 

TEAFFIC 208-219 

CHAPTER XT. 

TT ASTED EESOrECES — STAETLrN'O FACTS - 220-235 

CHAPTER XVI. 

FAMOUS TEMPEEAXCE LEADEE5 A^T) LEC- 

TUEEE5 236-261 

CHAPTER XVn. 

TOTAL ABSTLN'EXCE FN" GEEAT BEITALN' 

AXD IEELA^^) - - - - -^262=280 

CHAPTER XTin. 
THE women's tempeeaxce ceusade - 281-298 

CHAPTER XIX. 

TEIALS. TEirMPHS AND DISAPPOFN'TMENTS 299-312 



CONTENTS. XI 11 

CHAPTER XX. 

THE POWER OF SOCIAL INFLUENCES - - 313-326 

CHAPTER XXI. 

THE PATHOLOGY OF DRUNKENNESS - - 327-347 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE PATHWAY TO RUIN MADE EASY - - 348-368 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE INAUGURATION OF THE REFORM CLUBS 369-385 

CHAPTER XXiy. 

TEMPERANCE REVIVAL CONDUCTED BY 

FRANCIS MURPHY - - - - 386-405 

CHAPTER XXY. 

WONDERFUL UPRISING IN BEHALF OF TOTAL 

ABSTINENCE - - - - - 406-431 

CHAPTERXXYI. 

MONSTER MEETINGS IN MANY PLACES - 432-452 

CHAPTER XXYII. 

EMINENT WOMEN IN THE CAUSE OF REFORM 453-472 

CHAPTER XXYIII. 

SOME PHENOMENAL RESULTS EFFECTED - 473-489 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE RED AND BLUE RIBBON CLUBS OF THE 

WEST - - - - - - 490-512 

CHAPTER XXX. 

PROGRESS OF THE GREAi; TIDAL WAVE OF 

REFORM 513-533 



XIV CON'TEN'TS. 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE MISSION OF CONWAY, BONTECOU, THE 

CAMPBELLS AND OTHERS - - - 534-546 

CHAPTER XXXn. 

SCENES AND INCIDENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN 547-557 

CHAPTER XXXni. 

THE OPIUM HABIT IN AMERICA - - 558-569 

CHAPTER XXXIY. 

THOUSANDS OF CAPTIVES DISENTHRALLED 570-591 



:bjIl.ttlitvo^ 



WITH 



THE DEMON 



» » » 



CHAPTER I. 

THE CURSE OF ALL AGES AND CLIMES. 

In the dim morning of time, when the world 
was yet young and the race had scarcely 
commenced its rational life, men learned to 
plant the vine and press the juice from the 
grape. But in the refreshing, unfermented bev- 
erage they obtained from the fresh, ripe fruit, 
there lurked no subtle poison to blast and de- 
stroy the body and soul. It is probable that the 
desire to keep continually supplied with this 
nectar obtained from the fruit of the vineyard, 
prompted the most ancient wine-drinkers to de- 
vise vessels for its preservation. Of course the 
elements contained in the fresh juice caused it 
to ferment. A new principle was evolved. What 
before was harmless now became hurtful. Alco- 



16 THE CUESE or ALL 

hol was present in the wine. Men were not long 
in discovering that old wine was strong, and that 
it produced a strange effect npon the drinker. 
It exhilarated and exalted, and finally induced 
forgetfulness of all care. Thus the fearfully 
potent enemy of the race was introduced into the 
world. Was it an accident that the discovery 
was made, that age imparted strength to wine? 
"Was it mere chance that gave hirth to the piti- 
less rlemon who, through all ages, has attended 
the unnumbered millions of the race, only to 
torment and destroy ? Rather, was it not an in- 
vention of the fell Spirit of Evil, who, envious of 
the innocence and purity of the young world's 
children, determined to blight and destroy hap- 
piness and hope together? Be that as it may, 
the result has been the same. Down through the 
misty ages, and on to our times, this dreadful 
enemy — Strong Drink — has accompanied all the 
generations which have come and gone, to smite 
the human family with a curse — to lay upon 
mankind the burden of sorrow, shame, sin and 
despair. Against this terrible foe the human 
family have maintained a conflict through untold 
centuries. What a struggle! Yet this demon 
has not been banished, although opposed by the 
grandest moral and spiritual forces inherent in 
the race. Century after century, age after age, 
the moral strength of the human family has 
been exerted to break the fetters with which 
Strong Drink had bound the children of the earth. 



A^ES A^D CLIMES. . It 

tilt the effort has proved vain. This enemy has 
obtained victories over the world, and made vic- 
tims of the brightest and bravest representatives 
of the race. The history of the unending strug- 
gle between the Demon of Drunkenness and the 
moral and spiritual forces of the world, would be 
v^^ell nigh an account of the entire sum of human 
misery. Over what moral forces has it not 
triumphed? What subtle passions of the mind 
remain to be conquered by it ? Love, Avarice, 
Ambition, Honor, Faith — all have yielded before 
its assaults. A pitiless, mocking demon, it has 
proved itself to be ! It has laid its dreadful spell 
upon the lover, and he has murdered his love; 
it has stolen into the closed recesses of the 
miser's heart, robbed him of his caution, and his 
gold has vanished ; it has entered the list r^ gainst 
the most brilliant intellects and the mightiest 
conquerors, and the light of genius has been ex- 
tinguished, and the sceptre of power has drop- 
ped from their trembling hands ere they entered 
the shadowy realms of death ; it has bver-mas- 
teredthe resolves of the upright, and they have 
yielded up their honor ; it has mingled its foul 
breath with the holy aspirations of the faithful, 
and they have ceased to praj^, and denied their 
God; it has murdered hope; it has armed the 
hand of vengeance; it has annihilated truth; it 
has begotten despair ; it has polluted innocence ; 
it has rendered futile the pleadings of purity. It 
is the parent of remorse and the generator of 



18 THE CUIIS:E OF ALL 

terror. Merciless as fate, cruel as the grave, it 
has inspired men — humane, social, generous 
men — to become incarnate fiends, who delighted 
to revel amid the miseries, the agonizing throes, 
of expiring nationalities. 

Talent, genius, morality, God4ike virtues, have 
not been able to resist its subtle power. It was 
this terrible foe of the race that induced that 
madness which converted Raoul Eiga^ult, Fou- 
quet, and their associates of the Paris Commune 
of 1870, into monsters of infamy who caused the 
streets of Paris to flow with blood, to become 
Angels of Destruction who hurled down the 
Column Yendome, laid the Louvre in ashes, and 
poured out the life-blood of the ministers of 
religion. What irresistible transforming power 
does it possess ! It assailed Alexander when in 
the strength of a vigorous manhood, when in the 
full possession of a brilliant mind, which made 
him a leader of men, and enabled him to conquer 
the world; and in the midst of his days the great 
Macedonian was cut down by this awful foe, and 
"died as the fool dieth." Ah, dreadful enemy ! 
Thou hast palsied the arm of the strong ! Thou 
hast hidden behind an impenetrable veil the 
intellect of the wise ! Thou hast extinguished 
the flame of genius ! What more ? Thou hast 
corrupted the virtuous ! Thou hast debased the 
good ! Thou hast rendered foul the pure ! Thou 
hast overthrown the morality of honorable men I 
Thou hast planted the seeds of sin in the tender 



. AGES AND CLIMES. 19 

heart of woman I Thou hast cast a shadow over 
the pathway of innocent maidenhood ! Thou 
hast appeared at the couch of thy dying victims 
to conjure up before their fading vision the very 
semblance of the terrors of hell! Pitiless, re- 
lentless enemy of our race, surely thou art, 
indeed, a demon from dark Tartarus ! 

What more can we say of this terrible passion, 
or appetite for Strong Drink, which has come 
.down the ages, blighting the fairest and the ten- 
derest, shriveling the strong and vigorous, 
scorching the hearts and blistering the souls of 
old and young, of rude and gentle ? How can we 
characterize this madness of intemperance which, 
coming like lurid tongues of flame, heated by 
the infernal furnace of wrath, is ever hissing out 
the terrors of de*ath, and throwing over all the 
world the black pall of despair ? In the dark- 
ness of midnight it has glared dismally around 
the hearthstone, wet by the tears of wives, 
mothers, and children. It has bronzed the beauty 
of earth with the horrible cast of hell. Even at 
the altar reared in honor of the Omnipotent, its 
blighting breath has withered the sweetest 
flowers that ever bloomed for the adornment of 
heaven, thus giving to death the fairest forms 
ever nurtured by the waters of life. It has 
gleamed, with baleful light, at the gate of heaven 
itself like an impassable wall of flame between 
misery and bliss. ^^Dripping burning drops of 
agony into the tenderest depths of writhing souls, 



20 Me cubse of all 

tliey have heaved with unutterable pain, and 
called upon God to blot them from existence for- 
ever." Language has never been invented 
capable of depicting this blighting curse of the 
world in all its hideousness. 

If we could heap together in one vast pyramid 
the skeletons of the myriad hosts of alcohol's 
victims, if we could cloth the relics of mortality 
in the festering flesh of the outcast drunkard in 
all its horrible deformity, if we could summon 
from the under-world the writhing souls which 
were robbed of heaven by the sparkling tempter, 
and could cast the black shadow of their wretch- 
edness upon the faces of the living ; if these 
millions, called from the charnel-house of the 
race, clothed in all the awful realism of their 
drunken ghastliness, were to march in endless 
procession before the vision of the living; while, 
at the same time, the very air of heaven should 
become endowed with millions of tongues to ^ive 
utterance to horrible imprecations and curses of 
the fiery monster which sent them to their eternal 
doom, such a spectacle presented to the gaze, 
and the thrilling wails borne to the ear, might be 
a feeble picture of the horrors of intemperance. 
Describe the work of whisky in speech! As 
well attempt to extinguish the luminary of day 
with a breath. Not even the rugged scars, not 
even the midnight horrors of a single whisky- 
enchanted soul torn by 'the hungry vultures of 
remorse, and plowed by despair, can ever be 



/ 



AGES AKD CLIMES. 21 

described by any form of speech that was ever 
spoken by mortals. 

Yet, while a hundred thousand suffered this 
indescribable agony in this beautiful land of ours 
last year ; while the echo of their concert of de- 
spair as they huddled about the gates of death, 
still rides every breeze that sweeps over the hills, 
and sings through the dells, and quivers on every 
sunbeam that dances on the church-yards, and 
while a hundred thousand more, with bloated 
faces and bleared eyes, and tattered characters, 
are making the land hideous with their cries of 
helplessness as they struggle in the clutch of 
death, men maintain a strange indifference and 
are deaf to the horrible warning, and tens of 
thousands — nay, millions — are sipping from the 
same damning cup that made all this indescriba- 
ble wretchedness. 

From all ranks in society, from the palace as 
well as from the hovel, coming in long proces- 
sion, we behold the mangled victims to the ter- 
rible curse, and stopping before the world's gaze 
with hopes blighted and characters lost, they 
point with trembling hand back to the pall- cov- 
ered waste of their lives, and cry in soul-harrow- 
ing concert: " We have drank of the inebriating 
cup ; we have touched the accursed thing, and 
are lost ! lost ! lost ! " 

Bat, thank God ! in the gathering darkness of 
approaching night the everlasting stars shine 
out. The world must needs be lost ere it could be 



22 THE CURSE OF ALL 

redeemed. The cry of the miserable ones has 
ascended to heaven, and the All-Pitying One 
hath heard the cry, and will have compassion. 

Twenty-five centnries have gone to the grave 
of the past since an Eastern prophet and hard, 
in burning language, depicted the evils of intem- 
perance. AYhat a picture does he present? 

"They also have erred through wine, and 
through strong drink are out of the way ; the 
priest and the prophet have erred through drink, 
they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of 
the way through strong drink ; they err in vision, 
they stumble in judgment. For all tables are 
full of vomit and filthiness, so there is no place 
clean." 

And another Jewish prophet and sage thus 
denounced the wrath of the Almighty against 
the unreasonable indulgence in strong drink: 
"Thus saith the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel : 
Drink ye, and be drunken, and spue, and fall and 
rise no more." 

Yerily, "wine is a mocker, strong drink is 
raging ; and whosoever is deceived thereby, is 
not wise. The drunkard and the glutton shall 
come to poverty. Who hath woe ? Who hath 
sorrow? Who hath contentions? Who hath 
babbling? Who hath wounds without cause? 
Who hath redness of eyes? They that tarry 
long at the wine ; they that go to seek mixed 
wine." 

" They have stricken me, I was not sick ; they 



' AGES AND CLIMES. 23 

hsive Ibeaten me, I felt not. When shall I awake ? 
I will seek it yet again." This is the drunkard's 
resolve. In sober moments he realizes the terrible 
effects of the potations, and to stifle conscience 
and drown remorse he seeks the drunkard's exal- 
tation, only to awake to the woes of the drunk- 
ard's disordered brain. 

From the very dawn of human history the wise 
and gifted among men, in every country, have 
not failed to utter their warnings. The Egyptian 
sages, the Jewish prophets and lawgivers, the 
Greek bards and philosophers, the Persian priests 
and magi, the Chinese teachers, the Brahmin and 
Buddhists, have alike denounced the use of wine 
and strong drink, and cautioned the race against 
the evils of the inebriating draught. 

If we are to credit the chronology of the most 
famous Egyptologists, the priests of that country 
more than forty centuries ago warned their pupils 
to beware of the evil effects of wine. 

It is related that Ameneman, a priest of Helio- < 
polis, thus wrote to a pupil, Pentaour, in regard* 
to his intemperate habits, more than 2,000 years 
before the birth of the world's Redeemer: 

*'It has been told me that thou hast forsaken 
books and devoted thyself to sensuality; that 
thou goest from tavern to tavern smelling beer 
(henTc) at eventide. If beer gets into a man it 
overcomes his mind ; you are like an oar started 
from its place ; like a house without food, with 
shaky walls. If you wield the rod of office, men 



24 THE CUESE OF ALL 

run away from you. You know that wine is an 
abomination ; you have taken a vow concerning 
strong drink, that you would not put such into 
you. Have you forgotten your oath ?" 

And this letter of advice has "been unrolled 
from the scroll of the past. It may he found in the 
collection of Papyri, translated for the French So- 
ciety of Egyptologists, and in a modified form cited 
"by Dr. Lees in his excellent work on Temperance. 
In another Papyri letter from the same priest, we 
find another allusion to the temperance pledge, 
perhaps directed to the same person. 

^'•I have heard it said, you go after pleasure. 
Turn not away your face from my advice, or do 
you really give your heart to all the words of the 
votaries of indulgence? Your limbs are alive 
then, but your heart is asleep. I^your superior^ 
forbid you to go to the taverns. You are degraded 
like the beasts ! But we see many like you, — 
haters of books ; they honor not the God. The 
God regards not the breakers of vows — the illit- 
erate. When young as you, I passed my time 
under discipline ; it tamed my members. When 
three months liad gone, I was dedicated to the 
house of the God, I became one among the chief 
in all kinds of learning." 

A fragment from the work of an Egyptian 
scholar — librarian in one of the Sacred Temples 
of Memphis — has been preserved by Porphyry in 
a celebrated work of his own, and contains a 
remarkable passage, in which the doctrine set 



' AGES AJS-D CLIMES. 25 

forth Iby Solomon, in tlie Book of Proverbs, is 
very forcibly stated. In speaking of the lives of 
the priests, Chaermon says: ''Some of them, 
especially of the higher orders, do not drink wine 
at all, and others, of the lower rank, drink very 
little of it, on account of its being injurious to 
the nerves, oppressive to the head, an impedi- 
ment to invention and an incentive to lust." How 
accurately this ancient sage describes the effect 
of strong drink on the moral nature and physical 
system of man ! Plutarch informs us that wine 
was forbidden to even the priests of the inferior 
deities among the Egyptians. Wine was wholly 
forbidden to the kings, who were also the high 
priests of religion. Psametik, who flourished 
about six hundred years before the Christian 
era, was the first of the royal line of Egyptian 
kings to drink wine. 

The precepts of the most ancient religion of 
the Persians condemn wine drinking, and teach 
that strong drink is an instrument of the evil 
power — the vehicle through which Satan enters 
into the heart to work the moral ruin of man. 
Herodotus declares that the ancient Persians, 
''strangers to the taste of wine," drank water 
only. It was the physicians, •' the medicine men " 
of that remote age, who seduced the Persians 
and made of them a race of drunkards, given 
over to excessive debauchery and national imbe- 
cility. As a temperate and sober race under the 
lead of Cyrus, a temperance monarch, they con- 



26 THE CUKSE OF ALL 

quered the East. The cure of a lady of the 
Court, in the reign of Jensheed, which was attri- 
buted to the remedial agency of wine, rendered 
its use common among the people. The deter- 
ioration of the Persian race was rapid after that 
date. 

Speaking of the ancient Persians, Professor 
Rawlinson says : " The sole drink in which they 
indulged was water." But in process of time the 
simple and abstemious habits of the people gave 
way to luxury and self-indulgence, "when the 
success of their arms had put it in their power 
to have the full and free gratification of all their 
desires and propensities." The ruin of this great 
empire of antiquity was fast approaching. The 
seeds of moral death were planted in the mould 
of physical decay. To quote further from Raw- 
linson : " instead of water, wine became the usual 
beverage ; each man prided himself on the quan- 
tity he could drink ; and the natural result fol- 
lowed, — that banquets terminated in general 
intoxication. Drunkenness even came to be a 
sort of institution. Once a year, at the feast of 
Mithras, the King of Persia, according to Duris, 
was compelled to be drunk. A general practice 
arose of deliberating on all important affairs 
under the influence of wine; so that in every 
household, when a family crisis impended, intox- 
ication was a duty. The greatness of Persia in 
the days of Cyrus was largely due to the sobriety 
of h€r people. With the introduction and gen- 



AGES AJSTD CLIMES. 27 

eral use of intoxicants among the masses, the 
glory of that renowned empire faded. It is a 
signal example of a mighty nation destroyed by 
alcoholic stimulation. 

The law of Moses required sobriety among the 
priests, and enjoined it upon all the people. But 
among the later Jews, we find the priests had 
transformed the Feast of Lots into an imitation 
of the Persian Feast of Mithras. It is probable 
that captive Jews, returning to Palestine from 
the East, brought with them the innovation. At 
any rate the Rabbis held that they were under 
obligation to be drunk during the continuance 
of the Feast of Lots. In the ages of the Darian 
monarchs in Persia, and the Greek republics, 
drunkenness was peculiarly prevalent throughout 
the East. , 

Hesiod, who lived at least 900 years before 
Christ, and who has been regarded as the father 
of Greek Poetry, understood the nature of wine 
and accurately describes its baneful effects : 

"What joy, what pain doth Dionysius give 

To men who drink to excess. For wine to such 

Acts insolently, binds them hand and foot; 
Yea, tongne and mind witbal, in bondacje diro 

Ineffable ! Sleep only stands their friend 1 " 

In his Second adage of " The Proverbial Phil- 
osophy," he imparts a lesson in temperance 
which it were well the moderns would hear : 



■y 



28 THE CURSE OF ALL 

"That half is more than all ; true gain doth dwell 
In feasts of herbs, mallow, and asphodel." 

Tnis poet ingeniously describes the effects of 
wine when he returns from a banquet : 

"Not absolutely drunk, nor sober quite." 

A state which he expresses in a Greek word, 
which seems to mean being steeled with wine, 
an ironical arming against the cares of life, to 
which it must be owned he saw no shame in 
resorting. In another fragment Hesiod describes 
an experience still familiar to all topers : 

"My brain grows dizzy, whirled and overthrown 
Wiih wine; my senses are no moro my own. 

The ceiling and walls are whirling round ! 
But let me try ! Perhaps my feet are fcound. 

Let me retire with my remaining sense, 
For fear of idle language and o£Fense." 

What victim of the demon of strong drink 
has not realized the sensation experienced by 
this most ancient of the classic poets? 

Again he sings : 

"While only I quaffed yonder secret spring, 

'Twas clear and sweet to my imagining. 
'Tis turbid now; of it no more I drink." 

But wine-drinking had its effects even on the 
mind and morals, the peace and happiness of 
the philosophical bard. He lost what thousands 
and millions since his time have lost— woman's 
love— and he awakes to a sense of his misery and 
degra^dation, and exclaims 



AQM ANB CLtMES. 29 

"Wine I forswear, since at my darling's side 

A meaner man has bonght the right to bide! 
Poor cheer for me!" 

How like the experience of many an unfortu- 
nate modern? Wine debases the character, 
strong drink destroys manhood, and a red eyed, 
bloated creature, though once beautiful as 
Adonis, can neither win nor retain the sincere 
love and devotion of a pure minded woman. 

The description of Hesiod's drunken reveler is 
closely imitated by Juvenal in one of his satires, 
describing drinking-bouts in imperial Rome, 
when prolonged — 

"Till round and round the dizzy chamber rolls, 

Till doubie lamps upon the table blaze, 
And stupor blinded the undiscerning eaze." 

The old, old story, which has been repeated 
through all the ages, the phrensy, the senseless- 
ness produced by the use of alcoholic liquors, 
whether fermented or distilled. And good men 
and wise teachers among all the tribes of the 
earth have warned their fellow men against the 
power of the raging demon which blights hopes 
and withers all the flowers of happiness. The 
teachers of religion, and consequently the moral 
instructors of mankind, have inhibited the in- 
toxicating draught. 

From the Vedas we learn that wine and strong 
drink were forbidden to the Brahmins, the 
mendicants or devotees and the physicians. In 
the earliest times, we are informed that the in- 



so THE CtTRSE OF ALL 

habitants of India were abstainers from strong 
drink, and to this day the Hindus are temperate. 

The Zend-avesta prohibits the use of strong 
drink, and the followers of Zoroaster, even in 
our times, are abstainers — as the Parsees still 
remain a sober people. 

The fifth and last of the "Pentalogue of Bud- 
dha" enjoins upun his followers this duty: 
''Obey the law, and walk steadily in the paths 
of purity, and drink not liquors that intoxicate 
and disturb the reason." This was written about 
560 years before the Christian Era. 

Wine was forbidden by the law of Moses. 
"The Lord spake unto Aaron saying, Bo not 
drink wine nor strong drink, thou, nor thy sons 
with thee, when you go into the tabernacle of 
the Congregation, lest ye die ; it shall be a stat- 
ute forever throughout your generations." The 
drunkard in certain cases was adjudged worthy 
of death. "This our son is stubborn and rebel- 
lious, he will not obey our voice ; he is a glutton 
and a drunkard. And all the men of his city 
shall stone him with stones, that he die. So 
shalt thou put evil away from you, and all Israel 
shall hear and fear." (Deut. 21 : 20.) Such are the 
laws of Judaism. 

Mahomed was a lawgiver and a temperance 
reformer, as well as the founder of a religion. 
Before his time the pagan inhabitants of Arabia 
were sunk into the lowest depths of degradation. 
Sottish devotion to intoxicating liquors was 



AGES AKB CLIMES. 81 

universally prevalent. Tliey worshipped sticks 
and stones. The great lawgiver of Medinali gave 
forth a new command respecting the evil : 

"Oh, true believers, surely wine and lots are 
an abomination, a snare of Satan, therefore 
avoid them. Satan gave dissension and hatred 
by means of wines and lots ; will ye not there- 
fore abstain from them." (Koran 5 : 7.) 

This law of the Arabian Prophet has been 
productive of vast good to the inhabitants of the 
East, — the Arabians, Persians, Hindus, Tartars, 
and Berbers. It was like a lamp set in the midst 
of a dark cavern. 

The founder of Christianity has also left his 
law against intemperance : " Take heed to your- 
selves, lest at any time your hearts be over- 
charged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and 
cares of this life, and that day come upon you 
unawares." (Luke 16 : 19.) The Apostles of the 
Christian faith condemn the use of strong drink 
in the most explicit language. "Be not drunk 
with wine, wherein is excess ; but be ye filled 
with the spirit." (Eph. 5 : 18.) "Every man 
that striveth* for the mastery is temperate in 
all things." So wrote the Apostle Paul, and 
the united experience of mankind attests its 
correctness as a worldly maxim, apart from any 
connection with those eternal verities which lie 
beyond the realm of human consciousness. 

In the far East, in the Scriptures of the people, 
precepts opposed to intemperance are found. 



32 THE CUESE OF ALL 

In Buddha's Dliammapada^ or "Path of Yirtne," 
a part of the Buddhistic canon, written by Bud- 
dhaghosha at least 300 years before Chris c, we 
find a cliapter devoted to "Thirst," from which 
we infer that it was the thirst for stimulating 
drinks which is so severely condemned. 

The three hundred and thirty-fourth verse in 
Max Mueller's translation reads as follows: 
"The thirst of a thoughtless man grows like a 
creeper ; he runs hither and thither, like a mon- 
key seeking fruit in a forest." 

This is not an inapt description of the idiosyn- 
crasies of the victim of strong drink. It grows 
upon him; it destroys consecutiveness in pur- 
pose. 

We cannot forbear to quote still further from 
this remarkable Scripture of the distant East. 

Yerse 335 : "Whom this fierce thirst overcomes, 
full of poison^ in this world, his sufferings increase 
like the abounding Birana grass." 

Yerse 336 : "He who overcomes this fierce thirst, 
difficult to be conquered in this world, sufferings 
fall off from him like water drops from a lotus 
leaf." 

Yerse 337: "This salutary word I tell you, as 
many as are here come together : Dig up the root 
of thirst, as he who wants the sweet scented Usira 
root must dig up the Birana Grass, that Mara"^ 
may not crush you again and again, as the stream 
crushes the reeds." 



*"Mara," the Fall for Tempter; the Deceiver; the Evil Spirit; equiva- 



AGES AKD CLIMES. 33 

Yerse 338 : ^' As a tree is firm as long as its roots 
are, and grows again even though it has been cut 
down, thus unless the yearnings of thirst are de- 
stroyed, this pain of life will return again and 
again." 

Are not these extracts sufficient to show that 
the Buddhistic Scriptures, equally with our own 
Christian revelations, denounce strong drink ? 
But here are a few more verses. They are so 
pertinent, so vigorous, so rich in suggestiveness, 
that no apology is necessary for their introduction 
in this place. 

Yerse 340 : ^'The channels run everywhere; the 
passions stand sprouting ; if you see the passion 
springing up, cut its root by means of knowl- 
edge." 

Yerse 341 : "A creature's pleasures are extrav- 
agant and luxurious ; sunk in lust and looking 
for pleasure, men undergo, again and again, birth 
and decay." 

Yerse 342 : "Men, driven on by thirst, [of strong 
drink] run about like a snared hare ; held in fet- 
ters and bonds, they undergo pains for a long 
time, again and again." 



lent to oui- Devil; Satan; Prince of Darkness, etc. 

Mara est Ic demon de I'amour, du peche et de la mort; c'est le tcntateiu* 
et renncmi de Buddha. Burnouf, Int. , p. 76. 

Mara is constantly alluded to in Buddhistic literature, as the great foe to 
the Buddha, vanciuished indeed, but not destroyed— an enemy that requires 
vigilant watching. He is represented as being constantly on the alert to 
secure some advantage over mankind, and plays a similar role in his re- 
lations to Buddha and his disciples th:it the Devil enacted Mith Christ and 
his Apoatlos; hence he is the Great Adversary of Mankind. 



34 THE CUESE OF ALL 

Once more we turn to this Bible of the Siamese, 
the Cochin-Chinese, and millions of the inhabi- 
tants of Hindustan, China, and Japan, to con 
over the words of wisdom that may be found in 
its pages. 

Yerse 348 : ''Give up what is before, give up 
what is behind, give up what is in the middle, 
when thou goest to the other shore of existence ; 
if thy mind is altogether free, thou wilt not again 
enter into birth and decay." 

^'If a man is tossed about by doubts, full of 
strong passions, and yearning only for what is 
delightful, his thirst will grow more and more, 
and he will indeed make his fetters strong." 

"He who has obtained rest, who does not trem- 
ble, who is without thirst and without blemish, 
he has broken all the thorns of life : this will be 
his last body." 

"He who is without thirst and without affection, 
who understands the words and their interpreta- 
tion, who knows the order of letters — those which 
are before and those which are after — he has 
received his last body; he is called the great 
sage, the great man." 

" 'I have conquered all, I know all, in all con- 
ditions of life I am free from taint ; I have left all, 
and through the destruction of thirst I am free ; 
having learnt myself, whom shall I teach V " 

In these extracts, we have the most explicit con- 
demnation of intemperance as an avenue through 
which Mara (the Tempter) approaches to ensnare 



' AGES AlifB CLIMES. 35 

the human soul. This universal recognition of 
he essential evil of indulgence in intoxicating 
liquors, by the sages of all ages and of every race, 
ought to impart a lesson, and the modern world — 
that part of it which claims to be the most en- 
lightened of all the inhabitants of the earth — es- 
pecially should heed the voice of the wise of all 
times, and crush out an evil, which reason and 
experience unite in condemning. 

The God-inspired men of the earth, who have 
gazed into the shadowy realms of the hereafter, 
until the everlasting Light, emanating from the 
throne of the Omnipotent, enlightened the dark 
chambers of their inner consciousness and shed a 
halo about the temple of the indwelling spirit — 
the men who have founded systems, thereby be- 
coming the guides to the aspirations of the human 
^^soul — the God-man, as well as the sages — have 
united in pronouncing a curse against the Demon 
of Strong Drink. Are we morally purer, intel- 
lectually superior, physically stronger? Shall we 
not then curse that which has cursed our species ? 
The Christs of all races have pronounced anathe- 
mas against the mocker. Then, blessed be the 
Christs ! Let us arise and follow our Christ. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE TESTIMONY OF THE WORLD'S TEACHERS. 

In a preceding chapter, we have shown that 
the founders, the organizers of all the great 
religious systems of the world, issued decrees, 
prohibiting their followers from indulging in the 
use of intoxicating drinks. 

We now proceed to give the opinions of some 
of the wisest men of antiquity. Socrates, the 
Philosopher, who lived and taught B. C. 450, left 
on record this opinion : 

"He who knows what is good and chooses it, 
who knows what is bad and avoids it, is learned 
and temjperateP 

Aristotle, who possessed an intellect equal to 
the greatest yet produced by the human race in 
either ancient or modern times, has left the fol- 
lowing testimony against in temperance for the 
benefit of the world : 

"Temperance is a mean state on the subject of 
pleasures — bodily pleasures, and not all even of 
these. In the natural desires few err, and only 
on one side — that of excess, the object of our 
natural desire being the satisfaction of our wants. 



THE world's teachers. 37 

But in the case of peculiar, or artificial, pleasures, 
many people err and frequently; for people who 
are called lowers of such pleasures, are so called 
either from being pleased with improper objects 
or in an improper degree or mj^nner, or at an im- 
proper time. A man is called intemperate for 
feeling more pain than he ought, at not obtaining 
pleasant things, as wine ; but the temperate man 
is called so from not feeHng pain at the absence 
of, or the abstaining from, pleasure. Now, the 
intemperate man desires all things pleasant, and 
is led by his mere desire to choose these things. 
But the temperate man is in the mean on these 
matters, for he is not pleased, but rather annoyed 
at the principal pleasures of the intemperate man ; 
nor is he pleased with any improper objects or 
pained at their absence; nor does he feel desire 
when he oitght not, or in any case improperly. 
But he feels moderate and proper desire for all 
those pleasant things which conduce to health." 

We are informed by Diodorus Siculus, that in 
Central Arabia a tribe or sect of people lived in 
the century immediately before the Christian era, 
who took a solemn pledge ^'to abstain from all 
wine or anything that would produce intoxica- 
tion." These people were called NabathaBans, 
and were probably a branch of an aboriginal 
tribe. They were the Good Templars or Recha- 
bites of their times. 

The Magi of Persia abhorred wine and refus- 
ed to touch it because it ^'clouded the reason 



38 THE TESTIMO^^Y OF 

weakened the body, and introduced lust and all 
manner of immoralities." 

Pythagoras, the Greek Philosopher, and foun- 
der of the Sect of Pythagoreans, instituted total 
abstinence as one of the cardinal requirements of 
his disciples. Wine, he declared, was hurtful to 
the soul, and entailed upon the spiritual nature 
of man untold woes, which would accompany the 
life through many of its transmigrations. In his 
estimation, wine was the very elixir of evil. 

Daniel, the prophet, and one time a minister to 
the King of Persia, was an abstainer from wine, 
and gave an illustrious example of the advan- 
tage of temperance and sobriety to the Lords of 
Darius' Court. 

John the Baptist drank no wine : being a IN'az- 
arite, he fed "on locusts and wild honey." 

Manicheus, the Heresiarch, taught his followers 
to refuse wine, which he denominated ''the gall 
of the Prince of Darkness, {fel principiis teiie- 
hrarium) which must be rejected and despised, 
as an enemy to virtue." 

Tatian, one of the early defenders of Christiani- 
ty, about A. D. 170, in practice, refused to touch 
wine. "I abhor this instrument of Satan," he 
wrote, "and will never defile my lips with that 
which deprives me of reason and sullies the soul 
with its polluting poison." 

The Encratites — Abstainers- -were assailed by 
Epiphanius, Bishop of Salamis, who declared that 
"they did not use wine at all, saying that it was 



THE world's teachers. 39 

of the Devil ; and that drinking and nsing it was 
sinful ; yet they suck the juice of grapes." From 
this it appears that these ancient temperance 
people did not refuse the fresh juice of the grape, 
but only the fermented — intoxicating — wine. 

The Severians, according to Photius, refused to 
drink wine, and inculcated the doctrine of absti- 
nence. Wine was refused because it was the 
cause of drunkenness, which they regarded as 
beastly and an abomination. 

The Eremites of the Lybian and Arabian sand 
plains, and the early Christian ascetics of Arabia 
Petrea, doubtless had no little influence in modi- 
fying opinion in relation to the whole subject of 
grape eating and wine-drinking. We find no in- 
terdict against the fruit of the vine, as such, but 
against "the wine which is the cause of drunken- 
ness," that is the fermented wine — the juice of 
the grape after its sugar has been converted into 
alcohol. Thus Mahomed declares, "Of the fruit of 
the vine ye obtain an inebriating liquor, and also 
good nourishment." Against the one he issued a 
decree, while he permitted, and even commended 
the use of the fruit. 

It is strange that men, who in the field of con- 
troversy could display great mental acuteness, 
and logical consecutiveness, were unable to draw 
the line of distinction between the eating of fresh 
grapes and the drinking of fermented and there- 
fore intoxicating wines. Yet, such seems to have 
been the logical blindness of many a bright in- 



40 THE TESTIMOTTY OF 

tellectual combatant in the contests of the earlier 
ages of Christianity, that men who refused to drink 
intoxicating wine, and yet ate of the fresh fruit 
of the vine, were accused of the grossest incon- 
sistencies. 

The Essenes, one of the most remarkable 
ascetic, philosophical and religious societies in 
ancient times^ were puritans as to indulgence in 
wine. To this sect, no doubt, the great fore- 
runner of Christianity belonged. Of them Jose- 
phus furnishes much valuable information. 
They were by nationality Jews, and in organic 
relations they constituted a brotherhood bound 
together by the strongest ties of social affection. 
The historian informs us that they had an aver- 
sion to sensuous pleasure in the same manner as 
to that which is truly evil. Temperance^ {teen 
encrateion) and to keep their passions in subjec- 
tion, they esteem a virtue of the first order. 
They are long livers^ so that many of them 
arrive at the age of a hundred years ; which is 
to be ascribed to their simple and plain diet, 
and the temperance {encrateioi) and good order 
observed in all things. 

Pliilo, the Alexandrian Jewish philosopher 
and author, gives us much information concern- 
ing another famous sect of ascetic temperance 
men of antiquity, viz : the Therapeutse. They 
required total abstinence, and despised all sen- 
suous pleasures, regarding such as calculated to 
injure men not only in the world that now is, 



THE WOELD^S TEACHEES. 41 

Tbut tlie soul of man in tlie world to come. Like 
the Essenes, tlieywere long lived, some of them 
attaining to the great age of a hundred anij 
twenty years, and many of them were a hundred 
years old at death. The remarkable longevity 
among the Therapeutse is ascribed to their ab- 
stemions and orderly habits. 

Minutius Felix, an advocate of the Roman bar, 
and a convert to Christianity, who lived about 
the year 230 A. D., v/rote a work entitled Octavi- 
us^ ill memoriam of a friend and fellow-advocate, 
named Octavius Januarius, who was a believer 
and by his arguments convinced Minutius of his 
errors. It is an able presentation of the Christian 
side of the controversy between the early teachers 
of Christianity and the pagan philosophers of 
Rome. He writes, "It is our endeavor to be as 
modest in our minds as in our countenances. 
Our meals are always decent and sober; and we 
are equally quiet and inoffensive in the more pub- 
lic assemblies." 

Origen was a Greek, and one of the most pow- 
erful controversialists on the Christian side in 
the third century. He wrote eight books against 
Celsus, A. D. 244-249, to vindicate Christians 
from foul aspersions. In one of his polemics he 
thus charges upon Paganism : "God, who sent 
Jesus to destroy the works of the devil, caused 
the gospel to have most extensive inlluence in 
changing and correcting the morals of men, so 
that the Churches of his people, being governed 



42 THE TESTIMONY OI' 

by new laws, sliould "be very different from the 
assemblies of the heathen. The conduct of the 
masses in crowded cities is notorious for injustice 
and intemperance ; but if the people of God, as 
taught by Christ, are compared with those among 
whom they dwell, they will appear like lights in 
the world ; yea, the very weakest in our churches 
shall excel all those who frequent the Pagan 
temples.'- \^Orig. Contra Celsus Liher III^ S. 29.] 

Tertullian was one of the ablest defenders of 
the Christian doctrine. He wrote an Apologia, 
that in some respects remains the master-piece 
of the early Christian polemics. 

In his Apologia, he says of the heathen festi- 
vals : "" They are only an excuse for licentious- 
ness and occasions of luxury ; tables and 
couches are placed in the streets ; the whole city is 
turned into 07ie tavern; intemperance and all 
manner of riot prevail ; and the troops are per- 
mitted to perpetrate many acts of violence and 
outrage ; while even the Senate and the Court 
take advantage of the general license." [Tert. 
Apologia^ Cap. 36.] 

Tatian was a pupil of Justin Martyr, who lived 
about A. D. 178. He was a native of Assyria, 
was born beyond the Tigris, and was by descent 
probably a Persian. He was an elegant Greek 
scholar, and belonged to the philosophical sect 
of the Cynics. He wrote a noble work in defense 
of Christianity, entitled " Oratio ad^ versus 
GrcBCosJ^ 



th;e woi^lb's teaohebs. 43 

Tatian was a most determined foe to intoxi- 
cants, and obtained the name of '' Tatian, the 
Temperate " (Enkratites.) He carried his temper- 
ance views to the extent of declaring that no true 
believer in Christ could touch wine. For these 
views, and some leanings toward Gnosticism, 
afterwards manifested, he was classed among the 
heretics. 

In a fragment, preserved by his preceptor, Justin 
Martyr, Tatian expresses his abhorrence of wine 
in these burning words : " At your feasts," — this 
to the Pagan Greeks — " you give way to all 
manner of vileness, through drunkenness. It is 
not the custom of the followers of Christ to drink 
wine, but ye are sodden with that which ruins 
the soul, — since wine disturbs the reason and 
inflames every evil passion of the heart of man." 

Justin Martyr, who^ wrote in the Greek lan- 
guage and belonged to the sect of the Platonic 
philosophers, was born in the country of Samaria, 
Palestine, about the year A. D. 112. Although 
he styled himself a Samaritan, it is probable 
that he meant no more than that he was born in 
that country. His education and modes of thought 
were unmistakably Greek. He was converted to 
the Christian faith through the influence of an 
aged man whom he met one day as he wandered 
by the sea shore, and became one of the ablest 
defenders of Christianity. His two Apologias, 
the flrst dedicated to the Emperor Antoninus 
Pius, A. D. 148, and the other to the Roman 



44 THE TESTIMONY 0¥ 

Senate, A. D. 164, are master-pieces of logic and 
pleading. To tliis author is attributed the admi- 
rable work," Corliortatio ad GrcEcos^^^ in which we 
find a stinging denunciation of the excesses com- 
mitted at the public festivals and games of the 
Pagans, " Where," in the language of the book, 
" every indulgence in vice is allowed ; flutes excite 
you in the phrensied dance, and unguents and 
flowers cover your heads. Thus you banish 
"modesty^ temperance and peace.''^ \_CoTlioTt ad 
Graec. Cap, 5.1 

"We need not proceed further in citations from 
the ancient wise men. In the young w^orld, when 
hoary China was yet in its youth time, Confucius 
taught the lesson of temperance and sobriety. 
Buddha, and far back in the ages, his predeces- 
sors, the Brahmins, all denounced intemperance^ 
and counseled abstinence from the brain-destroy- 
ing and reason-robbing poison. Moses and Zoroas- 
ter, Christ and Mahomed, all were enemies 
of strong drink, and denounced intemperance as 
a vice to be conquered and subdued. And these 
were " the world's great fathers." 
' Thus we have summoned as witnesses a mighty 
array of the names great in the story of the 
world's progress, to relate their experience and 
testify against this demon, whose mission into 
the world was one to corrupt, whose successes 
have fllled tlie earth with sadness and sorrow. 
The testimony thus far taken has related to the 
ethical side of the question. Reason and religion 



THE world's teachers. 45 

hare uttered their sentences of condemnation. 
Morality has been wounded hy the demon ; re- 
ligion has suffered from its attacks ; reason has 
been overthrown by its demoniac agency ; and 
man, God's highest creation on earth, has been 
reduced to the low, degraded stats of an uncon- 
scious brute. It has wounded all the sensibilities 
and all the susceptibilities of human nature, and 
cursed the world with misery and woe. 

The triumph of the opponents of the Enkratites 
in the second and third centuries ; the destruction 
of the Essenes and Therapeutae ; the invasion and 
conquest of the Roman Empire by the JSTorthern 
hordes, gave the Christian world over to a reign 
of intemperance and vices growing out of it, 
which have been regarded as the dark ages, when 
there were neither temperance, virtue, honor, 
learning nor literature among the people. But 
the shadows passed away. Reason returned; 
religion exerted its wonted influence ; and the 
world began slowly to recover from its long night 
of despair. The dead faith gave way before the 
living power of truth; the light shone out over 
the world. The modern ages arrived, and men 
began to think and devise. 

In 1640 Hobbes, the philosopher, wrote, "Tem- 
perlance, the habit by which we abstain from all 
things that tend to our destruction ; intemperance, 
the contrary vice ; as for the common opinion, 
that virtue consisteth in mediocrity and vice in 
extremes, I see no ground for it. Courage may 



46 THE TESTIMOl^Y OF 

"be virtue, when tlie daring is extreme^ if the cause 
de good; and extreme fear no vice, when the 
danger is extreme. To give a man more than Ms 
due is no injustice, though it he to give him less. 
In gifts it is not the sum that maketh liberality, 
hut the reason; and so in all other virtues and 
vices." 

The poet Armstrong has defined the meaning 
of the word virtue in a most judicious couplet: 
**Yirtue — for mere good nature is a fool — 
Is sense and Ej)irit with humanity." 

Sense and spirit with humanity would hanish 
half the evils of intemperance; for a fool with 
mere good nature would not then exist to he se- 
duced to join his friends "in a social glass," and 
the vast army of drunkards, made so through 
their weakness and consequent inability to utter 
the words — "No, thanks, I never drink," would 
speedily disappear. 

DeQuincey, the acute critic and fascinating 
author, says, " Temperance is adaptation to the 
organism." 

Dr. Samuel Brown, of Edinburgh, has given us 
this definition of the term : " True and universal 
Temperance is the spirit of obedience to all the 
laws of man's manifold and miraculous nature." 

The wise, the good, the great, in all ages, in 
every country, and among every tribe of the 
human family, have decided against the use of 
intoxicants, as pernicious to the moral health of 
the human race. They have recited the story of 



THE world's teachees. 47 

its havoc, have pointed to the demonstrations of 
its baleful influence and warned men '' to touch 
not, taste not, handle not," the unclean and fatal 
poison. In the progress of this work we expect 
to point to facts which amply sustain the opinions 
which we have quoted in this chap ter. The cause 
of temperance, which now attracts so much 
attention, has been the cause dear to the hearts 
of good men under all religious dispensations at 
all times. And since such men have ever been 
present on the earth, there never was a day or 
an hour since the appearance of man on this 
planet when there were not advocates of the 
temperance cause. Hence, the movements in 
progress now are not the ebullitions of a fanatic 
spirit. 



CHAPTEE III. 

INTEMPEEANCE AS A DESTEOYEE OF NATION'S. 

Thus far we have pursued our theme. It is 
now time for us to pause. The facts collected 
afford a fit subject for reflection. Tlie exhorta- 
tions to sobriety, the prohibitions and denuncia- 
tions of wine as a mocker and intemperance as 
a curse, all point to a sorrowful picture of 
humanity in the long past ages. We know not, 
and never can know the whole extent of the 
misery and desolation caused by the raging 
thirst for strong drink, which exercised a baleful 
despotism over the uncounted millions of people 
who lived, suffered and died during the long 
period of time embraced in the history of the 
^. great nations of antiquity. Conjecture eveh re- 
/ fuses to make assumptions ; imagination wearies 
in the hopeless effort to realize the measareless 
woes inflicted on the inhabitants of the earth by 
this demon foe, ere yet Egypt and Arabia,' Assy- 
ria and India, Greece and Palestine were crowned 
with the insignia of hoary age. Even in the 
youth-time of nations, generation after generation 
of drunkards, from the birth- year of mankind, 



DESTKOYER OF NATIONS. . 49 

had reeled through life from the cradle to the 
grave, and dropped into Eternity — that shoreless 
Ocean of Oblivion — lost in time, and nameless 
here forever more ! These were not the kings 
and courtiers — the great ones of earth, it may be 
— yet each one of the mighty host of drink- 
cursed victims was an individual possessed of a 
distinct personality ; a God-given, spiritual iden- 
tity, which must be as distinctly marked, as 
clearly defined in eternity as the individual 
identity of Zoroaster, Sakyi-Muni, Cambyses, 
Alexander, Csesar, Cromwell, Washington, or 
Napoleon. If these last possessed the attribute 
of immortality, so did even the Humblest of the 
nameless millions who went down the drunkard's 
road to the foul pits of degradation, despair and 
death. In the great hereafter — if there be an 
endless life for man "beyond the grave, and who 
doubts it? — the immortal soul of the lost wretches, 
every memorial of whose existence has perished 
from among men, will fill as large a space as 
those whose names have filled the world — whose 
fame has resounded through the centuries. 

But we are creatures of time, acting, it may be, 
for eternity ; yet our actions must have reference 
to the life that now is — to the now, the present, 
the pressing. For this reason Thoth and Moses, 
Zoroaster and Confucius, Hesiod and Sakyi- 
Muni, Christ and Mahomed, have each set motives 
for righteous conduct before mankind, apart 
from the considerations which move men to 



/ 



50 rN'TEMPERAKCE AS A 

seek tlieir eternal welfare. Success in earthly 
affairs depends so largely upon tlie diligence, 
perseverance and temperance of tlie individual, 
that every religious law-giver from the most an- 
cient to the most recent, from Thoth and Moses 
to Joe Smith and Brigham Young, has imposed 
upon their followers the obligation of temperance 
— personal sobriety. 

And it appears that the injunctions of all the 
founders of religions have been potent with their 
followers, and, in many cases, temperance has 
been interwoven, as a principle, in the manners, 
customs and habits of thought of the people. 

K Magasthsenes is to be credited, there was a 
time when the people of India were given over 
to all manner of intemperate indulgence, and 
drunkenness was common everywhere. India 
was filled with rioting, and morality and sobriety 
were unknown. But we know that the Hindus 
of this age are not drinkers of strong drink, and 
noteven the bad example of their modern con- 
querors has thus ftir seduced them from their 
pre-eminent abstemiousness. 

A Gujarati proverb says, "Red wine is bad 
{lal daralikno daru) ; it deprives men of wisdom 
{daliapan) ; it brings to them sorrow {dalgivi) 
there is no pleasure (jnoj) to the drinker of red 
wine, but only pain {we dand). Therefore, 
have understanding {samjan) and refuse wine." 
Such teachings, emanating from their learned and 
venerated priests, have had a large influence in 



BESTEOYER OP ISTATIOKS. 51 

IbanisMng from among the native people of Hin- 
dustan the curse of intemperance, once so pre- 
valent in that land. 

Strong drink destroys the energies, disturbs 
the reason, and eventually ruins the individual 
who becomes a slave to the appetite for it. Na- 
tions are made up of the aggregation of individ- 
ual men. When the units are wasted the aggre- 
gates are annihilated. The form and mode of exis- 
tence must change, or not only the distinctive 
national character is involved in destruction, hut 
the whole race perishes utterly. We have al- 
ready adduced evidence of the general prevalence 
of the principle of temperance among the ancient 
Persians. There was a time when the Elamites 
drank no wine or other strong drinks. They 
abhorred alcohol in all its forms, whether created 
by the fermentation of the grape juice, the milk 
of goats and camels, or the starch of wheat and 
rye. Under this abstemious regimen the Persians 
were invincible, and their armies, led by the 
great temperance monarch of antiquity. Cyrus, 
were equal to the task of conquering the East. 

But times changed. Persia was apparentl}^ the 
native soil of the grape. Conquests effected by 
force of arms had engendered pride, and the 
gains in the spoils of conquered nations had 
made them rich, and wealth begat indolence, the 
parent of vice ; and so this once grave, sober and 
powerful race gradually became dissipated, in- 
temperate, feeble and powerless. The millions 



52 mTEMPEEANCE AS A 

of men who were led by Xerxes across the 
Dardanelles, were effeminate wine bibbers, and 
they were not able to meet the temperate, sober 
and resolute Greeks of that age. The Persian 
power had vanished with sobriety, the Persian 
kings had become imbecile, vacillating, effemin- 
ate, sinking through habits of drunkenness, and 
the glory of the mighty empire of Cyrus de- 
parted — disappeared in the fumes of wine. 

< It was so with the empire of Babylonia. Bel- 
shazzar's feast was a fitting close to the existence 
of a nation of drunkards. The learned Chal- 
deans had become self-indulgent and luxurious, 
and had altogether forsaken those sterner virtues 
which had carried their armies triumphantly 
from the Indus to the Nile. 



-■^ 



The ruined temples of Nineveh, the utter 
silence and desolation that reigns where kings' 
palaces rose in beauty and grandeur above the 
plain, ought to afford an impressive lesson to 
modern nations. Assur-bani-pal might con- 
quer, Senacherib might lead his armies to vic- 
tory, and vanisli every human foe ; but a drunken 
nation is fated to fall. The kings of Assyria 
had become drunkards, and thus by example 
had corrupted their subjects. What was the 
result? The same there as elsewhere. The 
strength of the people was gone — their courage 
had evaporated with the fumes of wine, and 
mighty Nineveh fell, while the wine-loving mon- 



DESTKOYER OE NATIOl^S. 53 

arcli perished in the flames that desolated her 
gorgeous palaces. v^ 

The Marathas of northern India have a saying 
to the 65*60 1 that "Red wine {tamhada Drack- 
sliaclii daru) is a tyra*nt (dziilmi) and traitor 
{wisliwas gliatald) to man {mamishya). It is a 
thief which scourges {Icordayi) its victim iliaida). 
It leads to crime {aparadli) and is more terrible 
than a hundred executioners {pliambar antalcyi). 
It leads its prisoner (Jcaidyi) by the path of 
darkness iliatoTili) where a hundred murderers 
lie in wait. For these reasons an exhortation 
is added : "Therefore, shun, oh man, that which 
is a thief {J^sor) and destroyer of judgment and 
reason." 

Yet, in spite of these denunciatory axioms, 
the Waralis, a wild tribe, who are neither of 
the Brahminical, Buddhistic or Mahomedan 
faith, live in the country of the Marathas, and 
are notorious for their indulgence in strong 
drink. A poor and miserable race, not even the 
scarcity of money prevents them from debasing 
excesses, since they can obtain liquor for grain, 
grass, wood and other things which are at their 
disposal. Their condition is one of degradation 
and ignorance. They are abhorred by their 
neighbors, because they are not Brahmins in 
religion. The Parsees, like too many men in 
Christian lands, while themselves abstemious, 
prompted by a love of gain, have established 
liquor shops all around the borders of the Warali 



54 INTEMPERAIS^CE AS A 

country, and placed them under the charge of 
servants. From these shops enormous profits 
are secured. Perhaps the Parsee merchant ex- 
cuses himself for such dereliction of moral duty 
with the convenient assertion : " If I didn't sell 
the Waralis strong drink, some one would. I 
might as well have the profit as any one else." 
And so the poison is sold and a numerous tribe 
of the human family are degraded and ruined. 
Is it not a crime against mankind ? 

There is another tribe in the province of Kon- 
kan, in Northern India, called the Katodis, who 
inhabit the region which lies along the base of 
the Sahyadri range. This aboriginal race, like 
the Waralis, are not Brahmin, Buddhist or Ma- 
homedan, in religion ; hence they have long 
been an outcast race. Major Mackintosh has 
furnished a most interesting sketch of these 
people. He says, " They have not settlements 
of their own like the Waralis, but they live as 
outcasts near the villages inhabited by other 
classes of the community. They are held in great 
abhorrence by the common agriculturists, and 
particularly by the Brahmins, and their resi- 
dences are wretched beyond belief." Among 
other things, they eat rats, lizards, black-faced 
monkeys and snakes. Of a future state they 
know nothing. When a death takes place, they 
give food to the crows and call out Icava ! kava ! 
crow ! crow ! They say it is an old custom, but 
they have lost all knowledge of its signification. 



DESTEOYEE OF NATIOIs^S. 55 

And what is the cause of the deep degradation 
of a race, which, according to tradition, are of 
noble descent, being regiarded as the offspring of 
the demi-god Ravana, who was the great king of 
Lanka, being at last overthrown by the god Rama, 
all of which is related by the great poet Yalmiki. 
It is certain that their condition was once much 
better than at present. Why have they retro- 
graded in the scale of life ? Why have they gone 
back ? Major Mackintosh, perhaps without think- 
ing of it when he wrote it, in a single sentence 
has furnished us with a complete solution: 

" They will pawn tlie last rags on their hack for 
a dram!^'' 

'' Who hath poverty, and want, and wretched- 
ness, and degradation ? They that are addicted 
to strong drink ! " The wretched state of the 
Waralis and Katodis but confirms the long es- 
tablished conviction in the minds of the wise 
and good of all times, that a nation of drunkards 
is not far from national annihilation. 

When Greece was sober, Greece was invincible. 
Spartan courage was the outgrowth of Spartan 
sobriety. A temperate people are ahvays an 
earnest people, — earnest m faith, earnest in doiihf, 
in labor, in learning, in love and in war. The 
Turks are a temperate people, and we have been 
accustomed to regard them as an ignorant, semi- 
civilized race. Russia is a Christian power, so- 
called, having free intercourse with the higher 
Christian civilization of the Western nations. 



< 



56 l]S'TEMPERANCE AS A DESTROYER. 

But the Russian people are addicted to the con- 
sumption of enormous quantities of %odlika 
(whisky), and are perhaps more given to drunk- 
enness than any other nation in the world. Kars 
and Plevna afford a lesson of the advantage of 
temperance in war. Russia, with a population 
more than twice that of Turkey, and supposed 
to possess all the appliances of war which 
modem skill could provide, made slow progress 
1;oward the conquest of the Moslem foe. The 
opinion of the world was that Russian armies 
would speedily enter Constantinople after the 
declaration of hostilities. These expectations 
were not realized. The t'o<f7^Z;a-drinking soldiers 
of the Czar found the abstemious followers of 
the Prophet more than their equal in courage 
and daring. Only superior numbers could tri- 
umph. The fierce sallies of the Turkish soldiers 
attest their warlike courage and prowess. -/ 



CHAPTER TV, 

THE BIBLE AGAINST INTEMPEEAIS'CE. 

It is not nnfrequently tliat we hear persons 
who are not infidels — though unconnected with 
any Christian church — assert that jnoderate in- 
dulgence in strong drink is not a sin. Some, 
indeed, go further, and declare that even drunken- 
ness, on occasion, so long as its effects are not 
injurious to others besides the drunkard, is not a 
sinful act ; in fact, that drunkenness is not, per se, 
sinful. And it is with shame that the confession 
is made that for hundreds of years, the teachers 
of Christianity, as a mass, had no word of rebuke 
for the drunkard. Not that there have not been 
all through the centuries, from the ministry of 
our Lord until the present time, earnest men, 
who cried aloud and spared not to denounce in- 
temperance as a sin, a curse, and a crime; yet 
the Christian churches of the world, for many 
centuries, were not propagators of temperance 
doctrines. Indeed, it was once claimed that un- 
der the gospel dispensation, intemperance was 
not prescribed by the Great Teacher himself, and 
that the Holy Scriptures did not condemn strong 
drink and drunkenness as evils. It is a fact that 
even now there are whole sects of Christians, in- 
cluding their ministers, who not only teach that 



58 THE BIBLE AGAINST 

whisky drinking is not wrong, Ibut in accordance 
with the will of God, and ministers and people 
openly drink, even to inebriety. This is a fact 
known to thousands of people in the west. It has 
not been many decades of years since the subject 
of temperance became a general topic for discus- 
sion in the pulpits of England and America. In 
some of the most populous Christian countries of 
Europe, the question of tem^Derance is seldom or 
never mentioned by the priests and ministers of 
religion. It is so of the ministers of some Protest- 
ant denominations and of many priests of the 
Roman Catholic Church in this country. They 
have no words of condemnation for the "sin of 
sins and crime of crimes." 

It is singular that among some of the ministers 
of these anti-temperance denominations, they 
should claim biblical authority for their teach- 
ings and practice of whisky drinking. 

The author recalls the case of an aged and in- 
fluential preacher in one of the counties of south- 
ern Illinois. He not only defended the' practice 
of whisky drinking, but was himself an habitual 
drinker. At his house he alwayskept on hand a 
full supply of fine old liquors — such as old whisky, 
rum, and apple and peach brandies. These 
he dispensed to all visitors with a lavish hos- 
pitality. In former times lie liad run a distilltry 
himself. The expostulations of the writer had no 
other effect than to provoke him to preach a ser- 
mon from his pulpit the ensuing Sunday. Reader, 



INTEMPERANCE. 59 

can 70U imagine the foundation upon which he 
based his denunciation of temperance, and espe- 
cially of what he called "the new f angled off- 
spring of the devil, teetotalism." No ? Well, 
this commissioned teacher of the Gospel of the 
Son of God, as was usual with his brethren, went 
back to the book of Genesis, and found a text 
to his liking in the twenty-first verse and ninth 
chapter. It was a most remarkable discourse. 
It would have proved one of " the best drop 
on's " of a newspaper reporter, had one been in 
the neighborhood. He argued that God made 
the grape, and for that matter the wheat, corn, 
rye, barley, sugar cane, and other fruits of the 
earth for the use of man ; that if he had not 
intended that men should use them he would not 
have created them. Nuah planted a vineyard 
and made wine, and drank itj^ and was drunk ; 
and God sanctioned and confirmed it all, and 
hence the drunkenness of Noah proved that it 
was allowable for all of his successors to get 
drunk on occasion ; and much more in the same 
strain. And then he passed to the next recorded 
case of drunkenness, — that of Lot —and en- 
deavored to prove that a great part of the earth 
having been depopulated, it was necessary that 
Lot should assist in the work of replenishing the 
earth. 

Let us examine these Scriptures. The first 
recorded instance of drunkenness — indeed, the 
first mention made of wine in the Bible — is the 



v^ 



60 THE BIBLE AGAINST 

ISToacliiaii lapse abont the year 2,347 B. C. This 
is, perhaps, the oldest Biblical record of wine- 
making. Let us cite the account in a literal 
rendering of the original Hebrew : 

'' And began Noah [to be] a man of the ground, 
and planted a vineyard ; and he drank from the 
wine and was drunken, and he uncovered himself 
in [the] midst of his tent. And saw Ham, father 
of Canaan, [the] nakedness of his father, and 
announced [it] to his two brothers in the street. 
And Shem and Japheth, they laid the garment 
upon the shoulder of both of them, and they 
went backwards and covered [the] nakedness of 
tlieir father ; and their faces [were] backwards, 
and the nakedness of [their fatlier] they saw not. 
And awoke J^oah from his wine, and knew what 
his son, the smaller one, did to him. And he 
said, cursed Canaan, a servant of servants he 
shall be to his brothers. And he said, blessed 
be Jehovah, God of Shem, and Canaan shall be a 
servant to them. God make wide to Japheth, 
and he shall lie in [the] tents of Shem, and 
Canaan shall be a servant to them." (Gen. 9: 
20-27.) 

There is no intimation of divine approval in 
this account. But, as the old preacher taught, 
''j^oah was the chosen servant of God, and yet he 
got drunk." And because we have no account of 
a reproof being directly administered, he thence 
inferred that Noah was not chastised, and that in 
fact God had no controversy with man because of 



INTEMPERAKCE. 61 

drunkenness. Noah was drunk, and lie was a 
preacher of righteousness, therefore all righteous 
men may get drunk with impunity. Aaron was 
God's anointed high priest, and yet he made an 
image of a calf, and offered sacrifices on an altar 
before it. Abraham was the father of the faith- 
ful, and yet Abraham prevaricated to Abimelech 
in relation to his wife Sarah, and banished his 
son and her mother — sent them away without 
the means of subsistence into a wilderness. 
David was a servant of God, and yet he coveted 
Uriah's wife, and intrigued to compass the death 
of her husband, after he had already debauched 
her. But does anybody preach, that because 
God's appointed high priest set up and adored 
the golden calf, therefore God has no controversy 
with idolators ; that because Abraham prevari- 
cated, that therefore there is no sin in falsehood : 
because he banished Hagar and Ishmael, that 
there is no sin in a parent deliberately exposing 
his off-spring, and leaving them to starve ; that 
because David was an adulterer, and accessory 
to the death of Uriah, whose wife he appropria- 
ted, therefore adultery and murder are not sins ? 
The position seems so absurd ihat we feel like 
apologizing for occupying so much space in dis- 
cussing it. But unfortunately there ai'e too 
many persons occupying the position of teachers, 
who reason iu this absurd way. JSTow, the ac- 
count of Noah's drunkenness proves just what 
we have been contending for — that whenever 



62 THE BIBLE AGAmST 

strong drink enters a family, happiness takes its 
departure ; tliat it is the beginning of sorrow and 
tlie sure precursor of misery and woe. It was so 
in tlie event under consideration. This first case 
of intoxication on record led to the division of 
kindred, and provoked a curse. Drunkenness 
begins with a curse — it ends with the condemna- 
tion that obtains no abatement. The next case 
of intoxication recorded in Scripture is given in 
chapter nineteenth, 30th verse, of Genesis. It is 
the unfortunate occasion of another shame, the 
like of which the most besotted elements of our 
transcendently corrupt society would not excuse. 
It occurs in the colloquy between Lot and the 
messengers who had come to announce the des- 
truction of Sodom, — the angels, as the theolo- 
gians have it. It is said of the transaction: 
" And he urged them mightily, and they turned 
to him and went to his house, and he made to 
them a drinking and unleavened [cakes] he 
baked, and they ate. 

The next Biblical account we have of a *'spree" 
is recorded in Genesis (chap. 19; verses 30-37). 
Literally, the story is as follows, following as 
nearly as practicable the Hebrew idioms : 

" And Lot went up from Zoar, and sat in the 
mountain, and two of his daughters with him ; 
for he feared to sit in Zoar ; and he sat in the 
cave, he and the two, his daughters. And said 
the first born to the small [one], our father [is] 
old, and a man not [is] in the face of the earth, to 



INTEMPERANCE. 63 

come in npon ns as [is tlie] way of all the earth. 
Go, we will make drink onr father wine, and let 
us sleep with him, and we may make live, from 
our father, seed. And they made their father 
drink wine in that night, and came in to him the 
first horn and lay with her father, and he knew 
not in her lying and in her rising. And it was 
from [the] morrow, and said the first born to the 
small [one]. Behold, I lay yesterday with my 
father ; let us make him drink wine also this 
night and go in and lie with him, and let us make 
live, from our father, seed. And in that night 
they made to drink also their father wine, and 
rose the small one and lay with him, and he 
he knew not in her lying and in her rising." 

Now, is there a man possessed of even ordin- 
ary powers of discrimination who does not recog- 
nize the utter absurdity of claiming this story of 
shame as a Divine license for indulgence in in- 
toxicating drinks ? On the contrary, who does 
not recognize in the sad condition of Lot and 
tbe shameful conduct of his daughters, one of the 
strongest temperance arguments furnished in the 
whole Bible ? He was drunk, and knew not what 
he did, and while in this^condition he committed 
crimes against the laws of God, of man, and na- 
ture. We should beware how we read the Bible. 
It is a book of history and biography, poetry 
and parable, as well as a book of laAvs and 
morals, of injunctions and precepts of divine 

truth ; for in the Bible, in its laws and command- 
3 



64 THE IBIBLE AGAllN^ST 

ments, we venture the assertion that not even the 
keenest critic can find any warrant for drunken- 
ness. The narratives we have introduced do not 
sanction drunkenness nor justify the drunkard. 
On the contrary, these are stories of shame, of 
sorrow, of bitterness. The first involves curses ; 
the second shame unparalleled. In the law of 
Moses it is written : " They shall say unto the 
elders of his city, This, our son, is stubborn and 
rebellious ; he will not obey our voice ; he is a 
glutton and a drunkard. And all the men of 
his city shall stone him with stones, that he die. 
So shalt thou put evil away from among you, and 
all Israel shall hear, and fear. " (Deut. 21 ; 
20, 21.) 

And a teacher of the law, the chief executive 
of the government of Israel, charged with the 
duty of both interpreting and enforcing law, has 
warned against intemperance in these words : 
*'Be not among wine bibbers, among riotous eaters 
of flesh. Look not thou upon the wine when it 
is red, when it giveth his color in the cup, when 
ifc moveth itself aright. At the last it bitethlike 
a serpent, and stingeth like an adder." (Prov. 
xxiii; 20.) 

Another man of God, during the Mosaic dis- 
pensation, thus thunders forth in denunciation of 
the use of intoxicants : '' Woe unto them that rise 
up early in the morning that they may follow 
strong drink, that continue until night, tiil wine 
(yayin) inflame them ! And the harp and the 



INTEMPERANCE. 65 

viol, the talbret and pipe, and wine are in their 
feasts. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink 
wine {ya'lii) and men of strength to mingle 
strong drink. Woe to the crown of pride, to the 
drunkards of Ephraim, whoce glorious beauty 
are as fading flowers which are on the head of the 
fat valleys of them that are overcome loitli 
wine.'''' Isaiah 5 ; 12-22. 

Another teacher in Israel has declared: 
" Whoredom and wine^ and new wine., take away 
the heart." 

The Bible contains a narrative of Noah's un- 
fortunate fall, and also relates the shame of Lot 
and his daughters, but no where in the book is 
there any authority given God's people to drink 
unto drunkenness. On the contrary, strong 
drink is denounced as a curse, and the drunkard 
as a sinner. The dissipated youth, who being 
admonished by his parents, still persisted in re- 
bellion by continuing to be a glutton and drunk- 
ard., might be brought to justice by his parents 
and put to death by his fellow-townsmen. It was 
a crime under the Mosaic law to be a glutto7i smd 
drunkard^ a crime to be expiated upon accusa- 
tion, proof and condemnation, by the infliction 
of a terrible penalty in the most horrible man- 
ner. Read the citations from the Bible presented 
in this chapter, and then say if the Jewish 
scriptures do not enjoin temperance and denounce 
drunkenness as sinful — a crime against the laws 
of God and the welfare of human society. 



66 THE BIBLE AGAINST 

The first mention made of wine drinking to the 
extent of intoxication, affords one of the strongest 
arguments in favor of temperance that could be 
adduced. It was in the morning of a new world, 
purified by the greatest cataclysm known in the 
history of nature. The wicked generations of 
Adam's race, who had forgot God and defied His 
providence, had all been swept away by the flood. 
There was but one family on this great globe. 
This family, father and mother, with their three 
sons and their wives, had, through the mercy of 
God, been preserved to re-people a desolated 
world. They had shared together the dangers 
of that voyage on a shoreless ocean.; they had 
seen the waters rise when "the windows of 
heaven were opened and the fountains of the 
great deep were broken up ; " they had witnessed 
the agony, struggles and death of the myriads of 
the antediluvian world ; they had escaped, — the 
sole survivors of an overwhelmed race. It is 
but reasonable to infer that there were harmo- 
nious chords of sympathy to bind them together. 
The world was wide and tenantless around them. 
There was not — there could not have been — a 
single motive for envy and strife between them. 
There were no rich, no poor, no inequalities in 
rank or fortune or condition. They were all 
alike, the spared monuments of God's mercy. 
It must have been a happy world then. Only 
those whose righteousness had been approved, 
and whose salvation had been achieved by the 



INTEMPERAI^CE. 67 

Omnipotent Lord of nature, were left upon the 
face of the whole earth. It was a restoration of 
Edenic conditions, and the world was once more 
free from crime. 

Bat there was an enemy who waited to destroy. 
Once before this enemy had envied the happy 
pair, fresh from the hand of God in the garden of 
innocence, and had app'roached that scene of 
deli2:ht with subtle reasonino; in the form of the 
serpent {HannacliasTi)^ and induced disobedience 
to the command of Jehovah God. And now a 
redeemed and peaceful family dwelt in serene 
innocence alone in the world. The adversary, the 
Spirit of evil, hated purity and innocence. Noah 
planted a vineyard, '^and he drank of the wine 
and was drnnken." Peace, order, fraternity, love, 
confidence, ail the ennobling virtues, were involv- 
ed, and envy, hatred, strife, bitterness, falsehood 
and curses henceforth were elements in the affairs 
of men. 

Can any one estimate the evils which have re- 
sulted to mankind from the apparently insignifi- 
cant circamstance, that one man had at a remote 
time ^'drank wine," and had become drunk ? The 
yayin in the restored world was almost as proli- 
fic of evil as the subtle reasoniiig of Haniiachasli 
in the Garden of Happiness. It brought a curse 
upon a whole race, upon one of the great families 
of mankind. 



•^ 



• 



CHAPTEH Y. 

THE KEW TESTAMENT COMMANDS TEMPEKANCE. 

In former chapters we believe we have snfR- 
cieiitly demonstrated that the founders of the 
religions systems of the Egyptians, the Persians, 
the Brahmins, the Bnddhists, the Greeks, and 
the Mahomedans, have united in the condemna- 
tion of strong drink. If so, it is established that 
the wisest, purest, and noblest minds ever devel- 
oped in time have declared in favor of temper- 
ance . And if we carefully study history, we 
shall find that the decline of nations has always 
followed upon the general disregard of the wise 
laws enforced by the great sages who collected, 
arranged, and promulgated the moral laws upon 
which were based the spiritual characteristics of 
the people. The Egyptians, as a sober race, 
built vast monuments, imperishable in time, and 
made themselves the m^asters of a large part of 
the ancient world, and made their country the 
center from which emanated all ancient civiliza- 
tion. The ancient Hindus were mighty in valor, 
and the non-wine drinking armies of Porusraade 
a formidable resistance to the Grecian conqueror 



COMMAIS^DS TEMPERANCE. 69 

Alexander. The Buddhists gave new life to the 
myriad populations of Southern and Eastern 
Asia. The abstemious Persians were invincible. 
The sober followers of the Arabian prophet con- 
quered more than two-thirds of the Eastern hem- 
isphere during the middle ages. 

Christ and his Apostles taught the doctrines 
of abstemiousness, of temperance and sobriety, 
and the early Christian apologists pointed to the 
uniform soberness and purer morality prevalent 
among the churches as a powerful argument in 
favor of the gospel, an all-potent reason for its 
acceptance instead of the Greek and Roman 
mythologies. It cannot be denied that the failure 
of the medseval bishops and pastors to enforce, 
by precept and example, the gospel doctrine of 
temperance, had much to do in introducing the 
decline of Christianity, and it was this that 
brought upon the Western nations that fright- 
ful reign of ecclesiastical corruption, which 
stopped the progress of the world for ten centu- 
ries. 

That Christ and the Apostles taught their fol- 
lowers that temperance was a duty, there can be 
no doubt. Drunkenness is a vice, against which 
the Apostles uttered strong sentences of condem- 
nation. An appeal to the writingsof the Apostles 
will prove the correctness of the proposition. It 
will be observed that the citations given below 
are almost literal renderings of the original ac- 
cording to Griesbach's Greek Testament. 



70 THE NEW TESTAMENT 

St. Paul in bis letter to Titus, advising him 
concerning the government of the church, directs 
him to ''inculcate things proper for wholesome 
instruction." What are these things? "That 
aged men he vigilant, serious, prudent : sound in 
the faith, in love, in patience." Now could a man 
addicted to .strong drink — a drunkard — fulfill 
these conditions ? When was ever a drunkard 
known to be vigilant ? When was such a one 
known to he serious? As well tell us that the 
grinning Satyrs that attend the revels of Bacchus 
were serious. Did any one ever see a man labor- 
ing under the influence of strong drink exhibit 
the least prudence ? Who will say that tlie drunk- 
ard can be faithful ? Is there on record an instance 
of a man steeped in wine who was nevertheless 
able to exercise the virtue of patience ? 'No ? 
Well, then, ''the man of many drinks" cannot 
fulfill the injunction of the Apostle, and those 
who cannot conform to the simpler laws certainly 
cannot be obedient to the higher laws of faith in 
God. No drunkard can be a Christian in the 
truest sense of the term ; and, conversely, no 
Christian can remain such and be a drunkard, 
because it would be in open rebellion against the 
Lord who redeemed him. But hear the Apos- 
tle further : "That aged women, in like manner, 
be in deportment as becomes sacred persons ; not 
accusors, not enslaved by much wine, good in- 
structors." What? Good women shall not take a 
little wine to support the body ? No, the injunc- 



COMMANDS TEMPERANCE. • 71 

tion has gone forth, they shall be *'iiot enslaved 
by much wine." {Ma oino'pallo dedoulomenas.) 
Once there was a "Sister of Charity," one of those 
angels of ministration who go about to do good, 
who was particularly devoted to the care of the sick 
Month in and month out, this good woman, who 
had devoted her life to the interests of the suifer- 
ing, waited by the bedside of the sick and sooth- 
ed the pangs of the dying. Her labors of love 
were great and arduous. She was advised to take 
a Jittle wine to support the body. Fatal advice ! 
This devout woman was the child of drunken par- 
ents. She had an inherited appetite. This truly 
gentle woman, with desires for virtue and pu- 
rity and aspirations for heaven, was made to suf- 
fer untold agony. The demon "thirst" was arous- 
ed. Once, twice, thrice she was retired to a Conven- 
tual Asylum for treatment. But the cruel enemy 
held her fast. She would drink. Finally she 
was disowned and was lost to all appearance. 
Her experiences were fearful. Fifteen years she 
had lived in a convent, and had been one of the 
most devout and self- sacrificing of the sisterhood. 
Then she became an 'outcast — that most miser- 
able of all creatures, a dissipated woman. She 
became acquainted with the inside of prisons, a 
breaker of rocks in a city work-house. But was 
she lost ? No, thank God ! Through his mercy she 
was redeemed at last. Forty -five years of a life 
that might have been bright all along the way 
were gone. But she has endeavored to redeem 



72 THE NEW TESTAMENT 

them again loj wonderful devotion and abundant 
works for those of her sex, who, like herself, have 
fallen before the destroyer. 

Paul enjoins sobriety upon the aged women, 
in order that they may, do what? "Wisely influ- 
ence the young women to be husband-lovers, 
children-lovers, prudent ones, pure ones, house- 
keepers, good ones, being submissive to their 
own husbands that the word of God may not be 
evil spoken of. (Titus 11 : 5.)" Is it not plain 
enough that the Christian doctrine is opposed 
to the indulgence in strong drink? Husband- 
loving, children-loving, prudent ones, pure ones, 
good housekeepers, and submissive ones, they 
must necessarily be sober ones. The Christian 
must be on constant guard against the spirit of 
evil. To be on guard requires the exercise of all 
the powers of reason, in order to combat all man- 
ner of temptations. The drunkard does not 
retain his reason and judgment and must neces- 
sarily fall into all manner of transgressions of 
the laws of justice and morality. We find this 
exhortation from Peter, one of the chief among 
our Lord's apostles : "Be yon sober, be you 
watchful ; your opponent, an accuser, walks 
about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may 
devour." (I Peter, 5. 8.) This is sufficiently 
explicit, -Kud accords well with human reason 
and experience. Evil propensities are mighty at 
all times, they are increased ten fold by the 
effects of strong drink, while the reason is 



COMMANDS TEMPEKANCE. 73 

clouded, tlie judgment weakened, the "will power 
overthrown, and the Christian faith and hope 
rendered nugatory by the stimulating beverage. 
The devil lurks in the whisky bottle, and like a 
roaring lion haunts the saloon "seeking whom 
he may devour." 

In other writings besides those above cited, the 
Apostle Paul characterizes drunkenness as the 
snare of the wicked one. Who could fulfill the 
measure of purity required of a bishop, as laid 
down in Paul's instructions to Timothy, and be 
a wine bibber at the same time ? It would be im- 
possible. The direction given that favorite pas- 
tor by the apostle, to drink no longer water, "but 
use wine for thy stomach's sake, and thy fre- 
quent weakness," is a sanitary direction, and as 
Paul was a learned man he had adopted the gen- 
erally prevalent notion that wine was a remedial 
agent of great medicinal virtue, and would give 
tone to the system of his beloved disciple. It was 
simply a direction in accordance with the dicta 
of the medical men of his age. It is impossible 
that the sensible, intelligent critic should find in 
this parenthetical direction of the Apostle to the 
Gentiles a license for drunkenness. Ou the 
contrary, in another instruction given to Timo- 
thy with the most solemn adjuration, he tells 
him: "But be thou sober in all things; suffer 
bad treatment ; perform an Evangelist's work ; 
fully accomplish thy service." (II Tim. 4 : 5.) 

The felicities of the world to come are ex- 



74 THE KEW TESTAMENT 

pressly forlpidden to drunkards in the !N'ew Tes- 
tament. The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to 
the church in Corinth (I Cor. 6 : 10) expressly 
declares this. He asks, "Do you not know that 
unrighteous persons shall not inherit God's 
kingdom ?" And he proceeds to enumerate the 
classes which constitute the unrighteous. Who 
are they? Fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, 
effeminates, sodomites, thieves, covetous persons, 
druTikards {metJiusoi) revilers and extortioners— 
these " shall not enter the kingdom of God." 

Our Lord himself expressly condemns the 
drinking of wine. The warning he gives to his 
disciples is not to be mistaken : "Take heed to 
yourselves, lest your hearts be burdened (fAo^m) 
b}^ gluttony and druiikenness {metho^^ and anxie- 
ties of life, and that day should come unexpect- 
edly upon you, for it will come* like a snare on 
all those dwelling on the face of the whole land. 
Be you watchful, therefore, at all times, praying 
that 3^ou may be regarded worthy to escape all 
these tilings about to occur, and to stand before 
the Son of Man." Three things are here expressly 
inveighed against gluttony, the sin of the gour- 
mand, the abiding fault of the wealthy and high- 
living classes who fare sumptuously every day, 
while thousands of their fellow-creatures have 
not even bread. Intemperance in eating is a sin 
and leads to physical consequences only less 
disastrous than the use of alcoholic liquors. 
Against this class our Lord warns his followers. 
Drunkenness was regarded by our Lord as a 



COMMANDS TEMPEUAKCE. 75 

grave sin, one that conld not fail to bring its 
recompense of reward, both in the world of time 
and the eternal state. This position is proved, as 
regards the teachings of Jesus, since he illustrates 
and enforces the evils flowing from intemperance 
in a parable. In Matthew 24 : 49, 50, 51, we And 
this recorded warning : "If that evil servant 
shall say in his heart. My Lord delayeth his com 
ing, and shall begin to smite his fellow-servants, 
and to eat and drink and he drunken ; the Lord 
of that servant shall come in a day when he 
looketh not for him, and in an hour he is not 
aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and ap- 
point his portion with the hypocrites ; there shall 
be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Here re- 
appear the three cardinal crimes of appetite and 
desire we have observed in the citation from the 
work of the Evangelist, Luke. Gluttony, drunk- 
enness and selfishness, are called anxieties or 
cares for the present life. Intemperance in eating 
d,nd drinking is most assuredly classed among the 
worst forms of transgression of the gospel law. 
Paul often commands and entreats his hearers in 
relation to the grievous sins of intoxication and 
the debaucheries growing out of it. " The Avorks 
of the flesh are manifest. ^ % h^ % 
Envyings, murders, drunkenness^ reveUngs and 
such like. ^ * -^ -^ ^ They 
which do such thinsrs shall not inherit the 
kingdom of God." Surely the apostle under- 
stood the teachings of his Redeemer, and yet 



76 THE I^EW TESTAMENT 

Paul commanded his Corintliian fellow- Chris- 
tians "Not to keep company^ if any man that is 
called a brother he a fornicator, or covetous, or 
an idolater, or a railer, or a druiikard^ or an ex- 
tortioner, with such a one no not to eat." And 
to the Romans he wrote : " It is good neither to 
eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor anything whereby 
thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made 
weak." 

"We think the case is made out. The precepts 
of Jesus Christ are against strong drink. " Take 
heed," for what ? " Lest at any time your hearts 
be burdened with surfeiting and drunkenness.^'^ 
"Watch and pray," lest evils befall you. But 
can the drunkard watch? Will the drunkard 
pray % Let those who have passed through the 
horrors of drunkenness tell ! No ! The uniform 
tendency of the lessons of the New Testament is 
to lead to temperance in all things. We do not 
propose here to enter upon a discussion of the 
example of our Lord in changing the water into 
good wine, as they say, at the marriage feast in 
Cana. The account we think sufficiently clear 
to show that, so far as human taste was concerned, 
the wine produced was of " a fine old flavor," 
and no doubt the wine tasters present on that 
memorable occasion were ready to pronounce it 
good. That has nothing to do with this discus- 
sion. W^hether the miracle consisted in a con- 
version of water into wine, or a perversion of the 
tastes of the guests ; whether the wine was intox- 



COMMAI^DS TEMPERANCE. 77 

• 

icating or not, forms no part of the question un- 
der discussion. There is at any rate no evidence 
that our Lord participated in the drinking, or 
even that a single soul at that marriage feast 
was either partly or entirely intoxicated. They 
had wine, that we have historical proof of; hut 
whether it was strong wine or fresh grape juice, 
it matters not. There is wanting any evidence 
that there was inebriety among the guests, and 
that our Lord partook of the wine we cannot 
say, since there is not a particle of evidence to 
sustain such an hypothesis. We know this, that 
he warned his disciples of the evil influence of 
drunkenness, and embodied in his teachings so 
many requirements to fill the measure of a true 
disciple, that we must conclude that Christ taught 
the doctrine of temperance as essential to the 
Christian life. 

The Apostles followed Him, and were mighty 
preachers against the sin of drunkenness. Peter 
and Paul, John and James, all were temperance 
advocates. The citations we have given in this 
chapter are clear and decisive in regard to the 
position assumed by the Apostolic teachers on 
this important question of Christian ethics. 

After the close of the Apostolic canons, come 
the Patristic teachers of the Christian Church. 
In that mighty battle between the followers of 
Christ and the adherents of the Grecian and 
Roman philosophers, — the believers in the old 
mythologies and the new revelation, — we find 



78 THE NEW TESTAMEIS^T 

that constant comparisons were made between 
the morality of the Christians and the excesses 
and immoralities which characterized the Saturn- 
alian feasts of the Pagan worshipers. And the 
sobriety of the Christian professor was pointed 
to as an evidence of the divine character of the 
faith that was within him. Some of the most 
powerful arguments framed by the Christian' 
fathers against the Pagan religions were deduced 
from the quiet habits and temperate lives of the 
followers of the Nazarene. 

Theodoret informs us that much of the success 
attending the ministry of the first bishops and 
pastors of the Christian Church was due to the 
sobriety and pure morality of the people who 
professed the Christian faith. Unlike the Pagans, 
they were " not drinkers of wine at their fraternal 
feasts." They were temperate in all things, 
and engaged in no orgies, such as characterized 
the Saturnalian and Bacchanalian feasts of their 
Pagan neighbors. 

Tatian " abhorred wine and refused to pollute 
himself with that element which maddened the 
brain, corrupted the heart and ruined the eoul.' 

Justin Martvr condemned the use of wine. 
Chrysostom — the Demosthenes of ancient Christ- 
ianity — denounced the use of wine among the 
people of the Christian faith, and pointed to the 
uniform abstinence from strong drink by them 
as an evidence of the divinity of the faith which 
anointed them and the superiority of their relig- 
ion over all others then recognized in the world. 



COMMANDS TEMPEKANCE. 79 

Augustine, the mighty advocate of the cause of 
Christ in the first ages of the Church, was a 
temperance advocate of the most pronounced 
character. It must be owned, however, that 
there was a sad falling away on the subject of 
temperance, in what is called the Orthodox 
Church. With the acquisition of political power 
by the conversion of Constantine, and the. gen- 
eral enfranchisement of the Christian subjects of 
the E-oman Empire, there seems to have been a 
fall in grace, which through the ages has exer- 
cised no little influence upon the ethics of 
Christianity. But the cause of temperance did 
not fail with the decline of purity in the 
church. There were always protestants against 
the hierarchy, and we find among those ancient 
Christian Churches, stigmatized by ecclesiastical 
writers as heretics, a strong ascetic, temperance 
element that abhorred wine and designated the 
intoxicants as " the broth of the devil.'^ These 
ancient Protestants against the corruption which 
had uprooted the Christian graces in the church, 
claimed and proved the highest authority for their 
abstention from wine. The Jews had produced 
such total abstinence advocates as Daniel and 
Tobit in the ages immediately preceding the 
Christian era, and John the Baptist was an ascetic 
whose food was " locusts and wild honey," and 
he drank no wine to support his s^^stem. Hege- 
sippus, controverting a statement of Eusebius, 
makes a good case, going to show that James, 



80 THE NEW TESTAMENT 

the Apostle and Ibrother of onr Lord, was an 
ascetic wlio totally abstained from the use cf 
wine. Clemens Alexandrinus claims that the 
Apostle Matthew was a total abstainer. The old 
Protestants (heretics) declare that Peter was a 
teetotaler. The forty-third of the Apostolic 
canons admit an ascetic abstinence, but denounce 
those who abstain from any sense of tlie impurity 
of matter. The Mao:i, who came from the far 
East under the guidance of the Star of Bethle- 
hem to worship the infant Redeemer, were, by 
the rules of their faith, debarred from drinking 
wine. The Manichean heretics were total absti- 
nence people. The Eremites of the Arabian and 
Egyptian deserts were teetotalers ; and we are 
informed by Photius and others that the Seve- 
rians would not touch the fermented juice of 
the grape, because it produced drunkenness. 

Is it not lamentable that the powerful influence 
of the priesthood in the Christian churches was, 
for a period of nearly sixteen hundred years, 
thrown into the scale in favor of intemperance ? 
Yet such is the fact. Here and there were a few 
men, in all ages of the Christian dispensation, 
who raised a warning cry against the aggressions 
of the demon of strong drink ; but their cry was 
not heeded, and the destroyer went on devastating 
homes and casting souls down to hell. 

The Old and the New Covenants inculcate 
temperance doctrines. " Gospel Temperance " is 
simply the acceptance of the Christian faith, 



GOMMAKDS TEMPEBANCE. 81 

and with tlie Grace of God and the 3^ove of Christ 
in the soul, the weakest drunkard may exclaim: 
^'I will arise, I will follow my E-edeemer, for I 
know in whom I have trusted." 

The enemy of the human race had accom- 
plished his purpose when wine was invented. 
That fatal event, and the language of that fallen 
patriarch of all nations, kindreds and tongues, 
rightfully or wrongfully, has heen the foundation 
for more tyranny, more oppression and misery, 
than any other event, or any other declaration 
that ever fell from the lips of a child of earth. 
"Cursed be Canaan, a servant of servants shall 
he be to his brethren," has been a license — at 
least so interpreted — for the perpetuation of the 
most diabolical crimes that ever cursed the 
world. The whole system of human slavery was 
based upon it, and for thousands of years, mil- 
lions upon millions of human beings have been 
made slaves, to toil, suffer and rlie, to gratify the 
avarice and promote the comfort of other mil- 
lions of the race. What does all this prove? 
Simply this, that whenever, and wherever, in the 
whole space of human history strong drink has 
clouded the reason of many, it does not only 
pave the way to wrongs and outrages, but it is a 
wrong and an outrage on the victim whose God- 
given capacity is lost in its fumes. It does not 
simply provoke the wrath of Eternal Justice and 
Right and invoke a curse, but it is a curse itself. 

The curse of Canaan has been made the excuse 



82 THE :^VM TESTAME^STT 

for centuries of crime and oppression practised 
against and ov^er the poor Africans. Learned 
men £'ave it as an opinion that the red- skinned 
inhalsitants of the western hemisphere were 
simply tribes of the accursed race of Canaan, 
and therefore legitimately subject to become 
slaves of the Japhetic race, and the cries, agony, 
despair and death of millions of the inhab- 
itants of Hayti, Cuba, Porto Rico and !N"ew 
Spain attest the awful earnestness with which 
so-called Christians endeavored to verify the 
justness of the curse and the necessity of 
demonstrating the immutable will of God respect- 
ing the accursed races. The children of Ham 
have groaned under unheard of calamities for 
more than twenty centuries. God has set his 
mark upon them, it is assumed, and it is not only 
right that the dark man, and the brown man, 
should be enslaved, but a sort of duty, on the 
part of the Caucasian race, to ill-use them for 
the sake of the curse of God. 

It may be a little irreverent to say it : but it is 
true that avaricious and tyrannical man has con- 
ceived a sort of method for the government of the 
world by the Divine Ruler, and manifested a 
strongly marked disposition to assist Him in the 
work of administering the affairs of the universe 
in accordance with plans of their own conception. 
It was so in the matter of slavery. Men manifest- 
ed very great zeal to render assistance in execut- 
ing the curse which they imagine God had pro- 



COMMANDS T:EMPERA]SrCE. 83 

nounced against certain families of the human 
race. It may be well to enforce once more our 
proposition, th^^t to the first instances of drunk- 
enness on record are traceable an incalculable 
amount of the sufferings which have fallen to the 
lot of man in all ages of the world's history. Of 
what evils is not intemperance the parent ! It has 
robbed honor of its throne; it has stolen the jew- 
els of virtue ; it has banished hope ; it has dis- 
armed faith; it has overthrown truth. What 
more ? It has kindled the furious flames of Pas- 
sion ; it has forged fetters for slaves ; it has nerv- 
ed the hand of the assassin ; it has raised the 
tempests of Hate ; it has wrought untold misery ; 
it has spread abroad strife ; it sent forth the spirit 
of desolation ; it has conjured up the demon of 
Ruin. Is this all ? Is it not enough ? But- no. 
This cruel enemy is not satisfied with wasting 
the world and plundering humanity of happiness 
and hope. It would shut the gates of heaven and 
people hell with innumerable millions in eternity. 
Blighting all things lovely on earth, it would con- 
vert God's children into infernal fiends beyond 
the limits of time ! 



CHAPTEE yi. 

MODERN TEMPERANCE MOVEMENTS. 

"With the death of Augustine we may con- 
clude the history of ancient Christian temper- 
ance movements within the pale of Latin and 
Greek hierarchies. Indeed, within a century after 
the cluse of the Apostolic ministry, corruption 
had well nigh overcome the spirit of sobriety in 
the Churches. Paul had been troubled with in- 
temperance in some of his churches before the 
close of his ministry. Immediateiy after the age 
of the Apostles, the curse of intemperance invol- 
ved the churches and made sad inroads upon 
the domain of that high morality which had been 
appealed to as one of the evidences of the divine 
origin of Christianity. Even before the days of 
Augustine, the high temperance principles which 
had been maintained by the Apostles and their 
immediate successors, had been very generally 
abandoned by the great teachers of what was 
regarded as the orthodox Church. Here and 
there was to be found a bishop who denounced 
drunkenness as a sin — a transgression of the laws 



TEMPEEAT^OE MOVEMENTS. #85 

of Christ — but the majority of "bishops were 
themselves drunkards at the period contempora- 
neous with the ministry of Augustine. That 
great man was a noble advocate of temperance 
principles. But he lived at a time when the 
church was lapsing into that condition of inac- 
tivity and corruption which for more than ten 
centuries obscured the laws of Christ and hung 
upon the movements of humanity like "the body 
of death," of which the Apostle Paal speaks. 
Mankind was then just entering upon that long 
night of darkness which hung like an inpene- 
trable veil over, the face of the earth, and which 
historians have named " Tht^ Daik Ages." The 
circumstances and conditions were all opposed 
to any permanent reformation of the churches, 
and the thunders of Augustine were all vain. 
He died, and the cause of temperance was left in 
the hands of heretics, who in no long time were 
subjected to the bitterest persecution by their 
fellow Christians. 

No pen can describe the condition of Christen- 
dom during the long centuries between the fourth 
and sixteenth of our era. Ko pretense to moral- 
ity was made loy pastors or people. The wassail 
bowl passed round in conventual cloisters as 
freely as in turreted castles. The bishop was no 
wise behind the feudal baron in the extent of his 
excesses. Priests engaged in revelries along with 
the peasant. The monk forgot his asceticism 
and united with the knight in a "bout of good 



86^ MODERN 

old red wine," — the mocker — and Ibecame ob- 
livious of all moral obligations in the stupor of 
complete inebriation. The world was of one 
faith then. There were no protests against these 
awful debaucheries. Men and women repeated 
their ^prayers, it may be, with commendable reg- 
ularity. But we will conclude that they were 
not the outpouring of the surcharged heart in 
thankfulness, or petition to God for his care or 
for his mercy ; but rather like th.e machine-prayers 
of the Thibetians— so many prayers for so much 
divine favor. 

Then, in an evil day during this long period of 
darkness — a day darker than all other days — 
an Arabian chemist, Achmet-Ben.-Housan, try- 
ing his various compounds while working among 
his crucibles and alembics, discovered Alcohol, 
and forthwith the world began to drink, no longer 
wine, but brandy ; and before the close of the 
thirteenth century intoxicants had become fear- 
fully abundant and awfully destructive of human 
bodies and human souls. 

And the centuries rolled on, and no voice was 
raised against the plague of Strong Drink. Men. 
drank until wild, and no power appeared mighty 
enough to exorcise the evil spirit. Women drank 
wine and were drunken and debased. Men turn- 
ed to the stronger potations of brandy, and 
reason was dethroned; and so the progress of 
the race was arrested. Karem had produced its 
fruits, and science had extracted from it a curse I 



TEMPEEANCE MOVEMENTS. 87 

But in tlie midst of thick darkness the ever- 
lasting stars shone out. After the shadows come 
light; after the storm cloud has passed on, the 
brilliant sun shines most resplendently. It had 
been the world's night. The very habiliments of 
death had enveloped the generations of man. 
But God's glory is able to dispel the blackest 
shadows; God's mercy is competent to raise up 
the most degraded beings ; God's grace is suffi- 
cient to strengthen the weakest of his creatures ; 
and of such make mighty instruments to carry 
out His divine purposes. 

A besotted race cannot be happy — will not be 
God-fearing. It was time for a change. But 
the progress of mankind is slow. The movement 
of the human mind toward a higher plane of ex- 
istence, toward a more perfect morality, is not 
equal in speed to the rapidity of a locomotive on 
a railway track. The world does not move so 
fast after all. Certain ideas outlive the condi- 
tions which gave them birth. The traditions 
and fairy stories of the ancient Hindus are re- 
produced, and serve to enliven the monotony of 
the long winter evenings around the hearth- 
stones of the Swedish and German peasants in 
our times. What we call the superstitions of 
the illiterate and ignorant people of the moun- 
tainous districts of iSJew York, Pennsylvania, 
Virginia, North Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee 
and Georgia, may be traced back to the primi- 
tive Aryan race, which inhabited the plateaus of 



88 MoDEHl^ 

Central Asia more than fonr thousand years 
ago. So with the wine-drinking traditions of 
Europe. Once established^ the custom of indul- 
gence in strong drink cannot be overcome in a 
day. It is a part of the domestic economy — it is 
interwoven in the manners and habits of the 
people. So it came about that some three and a 
half centuries ago the drinking habit was uni- 
versal. Priest and people drank, and wei;e 
drinkers, at least one day out of the seven. 
There were no Sunday laws before the Protestant 
Reformation. 

In the age of Luther and Zwinglius and Cal- 
vin the manners and social habits of the people 
were very different from the fashions of the 
present age. The influence of the Reformers 
was not great enough to effect an immediate 
change. It required time for the growth of 
opinion to consummate a revolution in the old 
ways. The age of miracles was past. 

We know not how we can better illustrate the 
point we have been endeavoring to make clear, 
than by introducing a brief account of the 
ceremonies attending the coronation of Anne 
Boleyn as Queen of England. Of course that 
was a.n occasion of a great public fete. Henry 
YIII had defied the court of Pome, and taken 
the important step of putting away his wife, 
Catha.rine of Arragon, in order to espouse her 
maid of honor, Anne Boleyn, in defiance of the 
Church ; in fact he was in full rebellion against 



TEMPERATsTCE MOVEMEITTS. 89 

the Roman Catholic hierarchy, and nnder such 
circumstances would naturally seek to convert 
the occasion into one of great pomp, in order to 
impress the populace, 

A historian describing the c^emonies attend- 
ing this important event, is very particular in his 
description of the street parade and the magnifi- 
cent preparations which had been made to 
properly impress the English people with the 
importance of the step taken by their sovereign. 
Fountains were erected, and instead of water, 
wine flowed in them. Conduits were constructed 
on all the streets through whicli the regal 
pageant passed, and in them wine flowed, to 
which all the people had access. The whole pop- 
ulace of London became intoxicated, and we are 
informed that " the night was given up to orgies 
not easy to be described." 

At the coronation of King Edward Yi a similar 
pageant was provided, and all London became 
drunk. 

The austere reformer, Calvin, was a promoter 
of temperance at Geneva, not so much directly as 
indirectly. Though he inculcated the duty of 
sobriety as becoming to Christians, yet it was 
not constituted a dogmatic article of faith. The 
stern Sabbatarian laws adopted by the Reformed 
Council, and rigidly enforced by the municipal 
police at Geneva, greatly contributed to the reign 
of temperance in that city. It may be well to 
state, in this connection, that previous to the in- 



90 MODEEN 

augur ation of the reformation by Luther, Zwing- 
lius and Calvin, there were no Sunday laws, and 
the day had before been a holiday devoted, not to 
religious worship, but. to general festivities and 
pleasure seeking. It was on the Lord's day that 
the populace found time to attend theaters, bull 
and cock fights, dances, and other places of like 
character, and to indulge in their weekly sprees. 
Drunkenness and all sorts of dissipation and de- 
baucheries characterized the observance of Sun- 
day in the ages anterior to the Reformation. At 
Greneva, Calvin's influence was sufficiently pow- 
erful to secure the enactment of laws which in- 
terdicted all sorts of amusements on the first day 
of the week, and forbid all manner of trading 
and trafficking, and absolutely prohibited the 
vending of wine and other strong drinks. These 
laws were enforced with rigorous severity. 
Greneva, which had once been one of the gayest 
and most dissipated cities in Europe, became one 
of the quietest places in the world. Of course, 
when the people could no longer assemble in the 
wine houses and taverns on SiMiday, they became 
far less dissipated, because they had no time to 
get drunk on other days of the week. 

John Knox exerted an immense influence in 
favor of temperance in Scotland, by his stern ad- 
hesion to Sabbatarian ideas. The taverns and 
wine houses were silent and deserted on Sundays, 
and the revelries which had formerly character- 
ized the observance of the day, were abolished, 



TEMPEKANCE MOVEMENTS. 91 

In the Puritan days of England,tlie drinking cns- 
toms of the people were much modified. Crom 
^yell's ^'Ironsides," like Cons tan tine's ''Thun- 
dering Legion," were not drinkers of wine or 
strong liquors, and, as soldiers, they were invin- 
cible. But to say that the habits of the people 
of England, or, indeed, of any part of Europe, 
before, or for some hundreds of years after, the 
Reformation, were temperate, would be to make 
an assertion not borne out by the facts of his- 
tory. 

The town council of East Hampton, Long Island, 
in order .to "stop the progress of intemperance, " 
passed an order in 1651, "that no man shall selle 
any liquor, save only such as are deputed thereto 
loye ye town ; and such man shall not permit it to 
youths, and such as are under ye couIpjI of other 
men, to remain drinking in ye inn at unseason- 
able hours; and such persons shall not have 
above half-a-pint at a time among four of ye men." 

The order was amended during the year 1655, 
making stringent provisions to "prevente de- 
baucherie among ye Indians." This decree of 
the town council of East Hampton provided 
among other things : 

''That alle men are bye these presents warned 
that they shall not selle any liquors whatsoever 
to ye Indians ; nor shall any one whatsoever send 
unto ye said Indians any liquors, nor employ any 
one to selle spirituous liquors, or send it to ye In- 
dians ; but any one may selle or give to ye Indi- 



92 MODEEI?- 

ans — for present drinking — not above two drams 
at one tyme. All are warned as to this, and shall 
not selle but to such as are sent by the Sachem, 
and shall bring a written ticket from him, which 
sayd ticket shall be given to ye Sachem by ye 
town and he shall not have above one quart at 
one time." 

The colony of Yirginia adopted a new Consti- 
tution during the year 1676, in which was a pro- 
vision that ''The sale of ardent spirits is absolu- 
tely prohibited throughout the whole country/' 

Religious societies protested against the use of 
ardent spirits at funerals in the year 1760. 

The Friends abolished the use of ardent spirits, 
so far as their societies were concerned, in 1762. 
In the same year ministers declined to officiate 
in Yirginia, when ardent spirits were introduc- 
ed at funerals. 

A general warfare was waged against intem- 
perance in the struggling colonies in 1776. 

The first law of congress against the manufac- 
ture of whisky passed by congress in the follow- 
ing words, Feb. 27, 1777 : 

"-Resolved^ That it be recommended to the sev- 
eral legislatures in the United States, immediate- 
ly to pass laws the most efi'ective for putting an 
immediate stop to the pernicious practice of dis- 
tilling grain, by which the most extensive evils 
are likely to be derived if not quickly prevented." 

The first American temperance society was 
organized during the year 1789. More than two 



Temperance movements. 9S 

hundred farmers of LitcMeld county, Connecti- 
cut, formed an association to discourage the use 
of intoxicating liquors. They resolved that they 
would not use any kind of distilled spirits in 
doing their farm work that season. 

In 1790 was published, in Philadelphia, a vol- 
ume of Temperance Sermons, supposed to have 
been written by the celebrated Dr. Benjamin 
E-ush. They created great interest among the 
medical men of that time. 

On the 29th of December, 1790, the following 
document was sent to the Congress of the United 
States : 

To the Senate and House of Bepresentatives of 
tlie^ United States^ tile memorial of the college of 
physicians in the city of Philadelphia^ respect- 
fully showeth : 

That they have seen with great pleasure the 
operation of the l^ational Government, which has 
established order in our country. 

They rejoice to find among the powers which 
belong to this government, that of restraining by 
certain duties the consumption of distilled spirits 
in our country. It belongs particularly to men 
of other professions to enumerate the pernicious 
effects of these liquors upon morals and manners. 
Your memorialists will only remark that a great 
portion of the most obstinate, painful and mor- 
tal disorders which afflict the human body are 
produced by distilled spirits ; and they are not 
only destructive to health and life, but they im- 



94 moDertt 

pair the faculties of the mind, and tliereby tend 
equally to dishonor our character as a nation 
and degrade our species as intelligent beings. 

Your memorialists have no doubt that the ru- 
mor of a plague, or any other pestilential disor- 
der which might sweep away thousands of their 
fellow-citizens, would produce the most vigorous 
and effective measures in our government to pre- 
vent or subdue it. 

Your memorialists can see no just cause why 
the more certain and extensive ravages of distilled 
spirits upon life should not be guarded against 
with corresponding vigilance and exertion by 
the present rulers of the United States. 

Your memorialists beg leave to add further, 
that the habitual use of distilled spirits in any 
case whatever, is wholly unnecessary ; that they 
neither fortif}" the body against the morbid 
effects of heat or cold, nor render labor more 
easy or more productive, and that there are 
many articles of diet and drink which are 
not only safe and perfectly salutary, but prefer- 
able to distilled spirits for the above mentioned 
purpose. 

Your memorialists have beheld, with regret, 
the feeble influence of reason and religion in 
rectraining the evils which they have enumerated. 
They center their hopes, therefore, of an effec- 
tual remedy of them in the wisdom and power 
of the Legislature of the United States ; and in 
behalf of the interests of humanity, to which 



TEMPERANCE MOVEMENTS. 95 

their profession is closely allied, they thus pub- 
licly entreat the Congress, by their obligations 
to protect the lives of their constituents, and by 
their regard to the character of our nation and to 
the rank of our species in the scale of beings, to 
impose such heavy duties on distilled spirits as 
shall be effectual to prevent their intemperate 
use in our country." 

This document was signed by Dr. John Red- 
man, pfesident of the college, and Dr. Samuel 
Powell Griffiths, secretary of the faculty. 

Dr. Benjamin Eush unfolded the banner of 
Total Abstinence during the year 1794, in a cele- 
brated work entitled "Medical Enquiries into 
the Effects of Ardent Spirits on the Body and 
Mind." This book created no little stir, and had 
an immense iniiuence in kindling an interest in 
the subject of intemperance. 

The year 1795 is remarkable in the history of 
the temperance cause only on account of the ap- 
pearance of one of the most singular morceau 
of temperance literature ever produced. One 
James Chalmers, an humble citizen of Nassau, 
N. J., had become a victim to strong drink to 
such an extent that he could not control himself; 
whereupon he issued the following ultimatum to 
the vendors of liquors : 

" Whereas, The subscriber, through the per- 
nicious habit of drinking, has greatly hurt him- 
self in purse and person, and rendered himself 
odious to all his acquaintances, and finds that 



96 ^ MOBEEK 

there is no possibility of breaking off from the said 
practice bat through the impossibility to find 
liquor, he, therefore, begs and prays that no per- 
son will sell him for money, or on trust, any sort 
of spirituous liquors, as he will not in future pay 
for it, but will prosecute any one for action of 
damage against the temporal and eternal inter- 
ests of the public's humble, serious, and sober 
servant." 

This unique document was signed by James 
Chalmers, and witnessed by William Andrews. 
We are left without information concerning the 
result of his earnest effort to reform. 

The year 1797 was memorable for the decided 
stand in favor of temperance taken in the quar- 
terly conference of the Methodist Episcopal 
church of Virginia. A resolution was passed 
which pledged the honor, as well as the words of 
the members as Christians, not only to abandon 
the use of ardent spirits themselves, except as 
a medicine, but also to use their influence to in- 
duce others to do the same. 

The Presbyterian Synod of Pennsylvania, dur- 
ing the year 1798, adopted a temperance platform 
pledging their ministers to abstain from the use 
of intoxicating liquors, and enjoining upon them 
the duty of preaching against its use by the 
people. 

In consequence of the action taken by these 
influential ecclesiastical bodies, and the manv 
sermons preached soon afterwards on the evils of 



TEMPEEATTCE MOVEMENTS. 97 

intemperance, a sort of temperance revival 
sprang up which eventually brought forth good 
fruit. Some of the temperance sermons preached 
about this time have been published, and copies^ 
of them still exist. 

The first Total Abstinence society in the United A. 
States was organized in Virginia by Micajah 
Pendleton in 1804. The pledge written by this 
pioneer in the cause of temperance, does not dif- 
fer materially from the pledge taken by modern 
temperance reformers. It appears that a large 
number of Pendleton's friends in the valley of 
the Shenandoah, became teetotalers tinder his 
leadership. The date of the formation of this 
first of American Total Abstinence associations 
is not very accurately fixed. The weight of 
evidence is in favor of the date given above. 

An association of Paper Manufacturers, to 
promote temperance in Philadelphia, especially 
among journeymen paper-makers, was formed in 
1805. This association had for its object, to im- 
prove the art of paper-making, and to ameliorate 
"the condition of worthy unfortunate journey- 
men and their families." It was stated that these 
objects of charity were made so by the use of 
strong drink. The members of the association 
therefore resolved '' to put forth every energy to 
restrain and prohibit the use of ardent spirits in 
their respective mills." 

The beginning of the year 1808 witnessed the 
earnest eff*orts of Dr. B. J. Clarke in the cause of 



98 MODEETT 

temperance. Dr. Clarke, wlio resided at Moreau, 
Saratoga county, ]^ew York, had for sometime 
witnessed with alarm and distress of soul the 
rapid progress of the demon passion for strong 
drink. One day, happening to meec a neighbor- 
ing clergyman, the Rev. Lebbeus Armstrong, 
he exclaimed, "We shall all be a nation of 
drunkards, unless something be done to arrest 
the progress of intemperance." "Well," replied 
the clergyman, "We must do something — we 
must do something." 

• 

The doctor and clergyman being of one mind, 
the two went to work "to do something." The 
result was a constitution for a temperance 
society was prepared by Dr. Clarke, and forty - 
three gentlemen united with them to constitute 
"The Union Temperate Society of Moreau and 
Northumberland," which Society was formally 
organized April 13th., 1808. This society would 
not be regarded as an orthodox temperance 
organization if it were in existence to-day. They 
proposed to be temperate, that ' was all, as is 
shown by the following extracts from the consti- 
tution prepared by Dr. Clarke : 

Section 1 of Article 1 Y. " ]^o member shall 
drink rum, gin, whisky, wine, or any distilled 
spirits, or composition of the same, or any of 
them, except by advice of a physician, or in case 
of actual disease (also excepting at public din- 
ners), under a penalty of twenty -five cents; Pro- 



TEMPERAl^CE MOVEMENTS. 99 

nlded, tliat tliis article shall not infringe on any 
religious rights." 

Section 2, of the same article, provided that 
" No member shall be intoxicated under penalty 
of fifty cents.'' 

Another section denounced a penalty of twen- 
ty-five cents against any member who should 
ofi'er any of the inhibited liquors to another 
person to drink. 

Tlie aims and purposes of this society were in 
the right direction. It was not what would be 
called, in our times, a strict temperance associa,- 
tion; but it must be remembered that at that 
time intemperance was interwoven with the man- 
ners and customs of tlie people. 

This "Union Temperate Society of Moreau and 
j^orthumberland " has been claimed, erroneously, 
by many writers on the history of the temper- 
ance movement, as the very first association in 
behalf of temperance organized efi'ectually in 
this country. It is certain that Micajah Pendle- 
ton had a society organized in Virginia, that it 
held regular meetings, that it was based on total 
abstinence, that it was in existence as late as 
1809, and that Micajah Pendleton's pledge was 
written, signed and made the basis of a total 
abstinence temperance society not later than the 
year 1805, seems to be a well established fact. 

A total abstinence society was organized in 
Greenfield, Saratoga county, New York, in 1809. 
Concerning its work, we have scarcely a single 



100 MODEEN 

fact. It seems to he well established that such 
an organization came into existence, but as to the 
numbers enrolled and the value of the influence 
exerted we know little. The facts and circum- 
stances connected with the organization of this 
band of temperance men, were set forth some 
years since by a writer in the New York Observer, 
and that communication is almost the sum total 
of the history of the society transmitted to pos- 
terity. 

The Moreau and Northumberland society must 
have been thoroughly organized, as there are in 
existence records of its regular meetings up to 
the year 1822, a period of fourteen years from 
the date of its organization. 

At this time, throughout the whole extent of the 
United States, there were not more than four tem- 
perance societies in existence. The whole num- 
ber of persons enrolled in the cause of temper- 
ance probably did not exceed five hundred. As 
we have seen, the Methodist preachers of Yir- 
ginia, and the Presbyterian ministers of Penn- 
sylvania, had enlisted in the cause of temperance. 
But not all the ministers of these denominations 
had any earnest convictions on the subject, and 
from many of them no warning voice to the peo- 
ple to whom they ministered went forth. Intem- 
perance was the rule, sobriety the exception, in 
those days. In New England, for instance, the 
vast majority of the people, and a large propor- 
tion of the teachers of morals and religion of all 



TEMPERANCE MOVEMEKTS. 101 

denominations, were habitual mm -drinkers. 
The very customs and manners of the people 
were based on habits of intemperance. In every 
liouse, however humble and however poverty 
stricken the inmates, it was deemed essential to 
have the bottle always filled with distilled liquor. 
The poorer sorts in the North and East drank 
rum. The rich had a variety of liquors, such as 
French brandy, rye whisky, peach brandy, apple 
brandy, gin, rum and imported wines. The ladies 
drank too/in t'lose days, and the wealthy farmer, 
merchant or professional man, always deemed it 
a part of duty to provide libe-rally of wines, cor- 
dials, and various sorts of liquors for the female 
members of the household. Everybody drank 
intoxicating liquors. Its presence in the house, 
and presentation on the arrival of a visitor, was 
a mark of gentility — the test of hospitality. 



CHAPTER VII. 

PEEVALENCE OF INTEMPERANCE IN AMERICA. 

There existed a pressing necessity for an up- 
rising against intemperance in the United States 
in 1810. As we have before stated, at this time 
there were not more than four or five temperance 
organizations within tlie borders of the United 
States, and the whole number of pledged tem- 
perance advocates did not exceed five hundred, 
if we exclude from this enumeration the Metho- 
dist and Presbyterian ministry, ofiicially required 
to be temperate, and the individual ministers of 
the Congregational, Baptist, and Episcopal 
churches, who, from conviction of the sinfulness 
of drunkenness, were advocates of the cause of 
temperance. About this time, too, the Society of 
Friends had commenced an agitation within their 
own meetings favorable to the cause. Intoxicating 
liquors at funerals had been inhibited by their 
Yearly Meetings. This custom of drinking on 
such solemn occasions as the death of ja, friend, 
can be traced back to the Asiatic home of the 
Aryan race. VodJiTca^ which is a kind of whisky 
distilled from wheat, is drank in enormous quan- 



INTEMPEEAIS'CE IX AMERICA. 103 

tides in Russia on the occasion of a death. 
Among the peasants, the last rouble is expended 
— not on costly trappings and display — but for 
nodlika^ in which the survivors may drink to the 
memory of the deceased. The coronach among 
the Scotch, and the walce among the Irish, are 
customs inherited from ancestors who lived in the 
far away past. The Usbek Tartars and the in- 
habitants ' of Samarcand alike maintain the 
loake^ at which large quantities of tom^, a drink 
made from fermented mare's milk, are consumed. 
So we see that the habits of people once fixed 
are exceedingly persistent. The traces of ancient 
habits and manners have survived the migrations 
of the race, modified, it may be, by environments, 
but still clearly and distinctly marked. The 
custom of getting drunk when a friend or neighbor 
passed to the other sphere of existence, was 
transported to this continent with the earliest 
immigrants. Hence the necessity for the resolu- 
tions of several religious conventions about the 
close of the first decade of the present century. 
The abolition of this custom of funeral intoxica- 
tion was an important step in the direction of re- 
form in the drinking habits of the people. 

The temperate societies instituted about the 
beginning of the present century would not be 
reo:arded as orthodox temperance bodies in these 
times. There were no such austere societies in 
existence three quarters of a century ago, as our 
jnodern Sons of Temperance, Rechabites, Inde- 



104 PEEYALETTCE OF 

pendent Order of Good Templars, Friends of 
Temperance, and the Royal Purple Reform 
Clubs. As we have seen, the " Union Temperate 
Society of Moreau and i^orthumberland" permit- 
ted its members to drink at public dinners, and 
whenever they were sick — and they were, of 
course, the judges of their own physical ailments. 
To become intoxicated subjected the delinquenb 
to a trifling fine of only fifty cents. Micaj ah 
Pendleton's society was probably a strict tem- 
perance organization, but the evidence shows 
that all others were designed merely to induce 
their members to be moderate drinkers. 

It is impossible, with the facts before ns, not 
to understand that the custom of drinking was 
universal. Behind the revealed facts we discern 
a dark picture of the condition of society in the 
beginning of the present century. It may not 
be uninteresting to present, in this place, a pic- 
ture of the drinking customs of the people of 
the United States as late as seventy years ago. 
And this presentation of facts also illustrates the 
necessity which existed for a temperance revival. 

An old newspaper file, *' The Weekly Mirror," 
published in New York in 1810, and another file 
of the " Inspector," issued in 1807, lie before 
me. From communications published in these 
journals, and other sources of information which 
the author has consulted, the following account 
of the manners and customs of the times is made 
np. 



IISTTEMPEHAKCE! IN AMEEICA. 105 

It was esssntial tliat all disposied to manifest 
hospitality toward visitors, whether friends or 
strangers, should be provided with "something 
strong" to offer as soon as "the company" cross- 
ed the threshold. The traveler, on arrivfeg at a 
farm-house even in the most remote country dis- 
tricts, on entering the house was conducted at 
once into a room where whisky, brandy or rum, 
water and sugar were produced, and he was invi- 
ted to "help himself to a little something to 
strengthen him after the fatigues of the jour- 
ney." In the better class of farm-houses, the 
traditional side-board occupied a conspicuous 
position in "the big room" — the old name for 
parlor. On this. piece of furniture was always 
to be found a stock of liquors sufficient to set up 
a modern saloon keeper in business — old whisk- 
ies, French brandy, apjjle and peach brandies. 
Port and Malaga wines, all in great cut-glass 
decanters. By the side of these bottles were a 
water pitcher, a sugar bowl, a spoon dish, and, 
in its season, mint, tansy and other aromatic and 
bitter herbs with which the old-time people were 
accustomed to flavor their "liquor." Into this 
apartment every visitor to the. mansion was 
ushered, and the host, pointing to the decanters, 
insisted upon the visitor refreshing himself witli 
a "good square drink of old vye, French brandy 
and sugar," "peach and honey," a "mint julep," 
a "tansy dram," or at least a glass of Port or 
Malaga. In less pretensions homes the variety 



106 PEEVALEXO: OI' 

of liquors was not found, "but the supply was, 
nevertheless, equally abundant. Apple brandy 
was a staple in the Middle States, and that or 
corn whisky could always be found in the hum- 
blest cabin. In JSTew England rum ruled. 
That could be found in the lordly mansion of the 
rich merchant and banker, and in the farm- 
house or the cottage of the laborer. In Yir- 
giuia a ad the states south of it, peach brandy 
and corn and rye whiskies, together with a 
variety of imported wines, were consumed in 
large quantities. ''Old peach" and "corn juice" 
could always be obtained. Even the hunter's 
lodge in the wilderness was seldom without a 
liberal supply of these essential stores. 

Said an old gentleman a few days ago, to the 
author : "My memory extends back almost to 
the beginning of the present century. I have a 
distinct recollection of the social customs of the 
people when I was a young man. My father 
resided on a farm, and right in front of the 
old house a much traveled highway passed. I 
suppose there never was a day during those 
years when at least twenty or thirty travelers 
did not pass that way. Our house was a general 
neighborhood center, as the country store and 
post-office were located on the road-side, only a 
couple of hundred yards away from the farm- 
house. I suppose from the time my father 
was married and became master of an estab- 
lishment of his own, there was not a week when 




"WARMING UP." 



lNTEMfERAi>rCE IK AMERICA. 109 

he did not liave an ample supply of liquors 
of almost every kind. I shall never forget the 
manner in which my father and some of his 
neighbor farmers nsed to pass their summer 
evenings. Half a mile from the house, in a 
large grassy lav^n, overshadowed by mighty 
forest trees, a clear, cold spring of water bubbled 
out from under a hillside. Along the spring- 
branch grew luxuriantly immense beds of pep- 
permint and other aromatic plants. Our home 
was too far south to permit ice freezing ; so from 
necessity cold water springs were esteemed as 
valuable. In the long summer evenings, my 
father, with half a dozen or more of his friends, ■ 
would repair to the great spring, near which, un- 
der the wide- spreading branches of an oak, tables 
and rustic seats were provided. A huge jug of 
old rye whisky, an immense dish of sugar, 
and spoons and tumblers, were brought forth 
from the spring-house, fresh mint was gathered 
from the margin of the little branch that mean- 
dered through the valley, and the party of 
friends, 'in bouts of julep,' whiled away the time 
for hours together. On sucli occasions, some one 
of the party always became heavily intoxicated. 
I have known the whole party of six or eight 
men to become too much intoxicated to get 
home, and servants would come with teams, 
tumble them in, and haul them away." 

On being asked what eifect upon the health 
and prosperity of this convivial coterie w^as 



110 PKEVALEKCE OF 

produced by sucli constant imbibation of intoxi- 
cants, the old gentleman replied with trembling 
voice and sad expression : " What effect, you 
ask? The effect of ruin to all of them in tim.e. 
/have felt the effects of the bad customs of those 
times. My father, from a convivial moderate 
drinker, went on and on, until he cared no more 
for either himself or his family. The ample 
fortune which once he possessed, vanished. My 
mother, sorrow- stricken, could endure no more, 
and faded awav ere the summer of life was over. 

a/ 

Decay seized upon the neighborhood. Then the 
dissipated old proprietors w^ere put out to satisfy 
creditors and the old population vanished; but 
not until desolation had settled upon the fine es- 
tates in the vicinity. My father awoke at last to 
the realization of the horrible life he had led, 
and after a severe struggle conquered the gnaw- 
ing appetite for strong drink. But he was like 
the thunder-scarred oak in the midst of the forest. 
All around him was changed, and the remaining 
days of his life w^ere one long inconsolable re- 
gret. Lonely he wandered around the place — 
fortune and friends all gone — without a home, and 
without the presence of the loved and lost, his 
gray hairs were soon brought in sorrow to the 
grave. I was a wanderer then, I had reached 
man's estate, I had become a drunkard and a 
vagrant. • For nearly twelve years I wandered 
up and down the earth, a miserable loafer and 
tramp. At last I was brought to see the error of 



INTEMPERANCE IN AMERICA. Ill 

my ways Arougli the mercy of God. I fought 
the demon with desperation ; I conquered. I 
married, settled, went into business, succeeded, 
and have had peace, contentment, prosperity and 
happiness since I cast away the poison-cup. I 
am old now. My sons and daughters are happily 
settled. I only wait for the summons to go 
home. But while I abide here I shall not cease 
to warn all to shun the fatal snare of the Evil 
One." 

When asked the question whether all did not 
drink liquors when he was young, the octogene- 
rian replied : 

"Yes, that is to say, nearly all did, both saint 
and sinner, pastors and people. You could not 
enter a cabin anywhere without being confronted 
with a jug, ' tickler,' or a ' black betty.' The 
vagrant, drunken tramp of those days had no 
trouble in securing his bitters. A man was es- 
teemed a paragon of meanness if he was known 
to refuse ' a fellow a little something to drink.' 
It was better whisky they had in those days than 
the vile staff they use now. It took more to kill, 
but it generally cut down its victim at last. And 
this is the cursed staff that everybody felt caHed 
upon to offer you as soon as you crossed their 
door step, in order to proclaim their good will 
toward you. Hospitable poisoning I should call 
it now. But, in the old da"s, when I was aj'outh 
everybody kept liquor in their houses, and t\wy 
offered it to everybody who canie to see them, 



112 PEEYALENCE OF 

whether on a mission of apnrely business nature, 
or through motives of friendship. The first tes- 
timonial of regard offered hy the parishioner to 
the pastor who called upon him was a glass of 
-toddy." 

The reminiscences of the venerable gentleman 
given above accord with the received history of 
that period. Intemperance was general every- 
where. It had even invaded the school room and 
the sanctuary. The solemn chamber of death 
was frequently converted into a hall for Bacchana- 
lian revelries. There are men alive to-day who, 
in youth, attended schools presided over by mas- 
ters with red noses, bloated cheeks, bleared eyes, 
and muddled brains, whose constant companion 
was a " tickler"^ of whisky. The author recalls a 
scene which was enacted within the sacred en- 
closure of church walls in a Western State not 
more than a quarter of a century ago, which, to 
some, would appear as outrageously sacreligious. 
IN'othinjg was more common than for people to go 
to church with a " tickler" in the pockets of their 
best coats. 

Deacon Strawn was a pillar of the church of 
Laodicea — not the ancient city of that name — and 
was exceedingly devout. He was also somewhat 
down on tickler carrying as a general rule. He 
had heard of the Washingtonian movement, and 

♦This name was p;iven to a peculiarlj' shaped corrugated glaes flask. It 
was carried usual y in a side pocket, and when full contained about aquart. 
The word, it is believed, belongs* espcoia'ly 10 the South an<i ^'est. "Hello 
tbar l~h8,n' out ttiat tb&r tickler, "—Southwestern gcpnes, page 32 



INTEMPERATTCE IN AMERICA. 113 

had nnderstood tliat there was a society called the 
Sons of Temperance. Some one had given him 
a few copies of a temperance paper, and on oc- 
casion Deacon Strawn had ventured to re;^eat to 
the brethren at prayer-meetings some of the argu- 
ments he had read, and illustrated them by aifec- 
ting anecdotes which he had seen in the papers. 
But tickler-bearing was one of the crosses which 
the brethren at Laodicea took up with unmur- 
muring alacrity. There were brethren who 
thought, and even quietly insinuated, that Deacon 
Strawn need not display quite so much zeal and 
valor, since as they had " heard his own skeerts 
were not quite so clare that he should be con- 
stantly provokin' the brethren to more active 
zeal." And the brethren of Laodicea were prob- 
ably right, for Deacon Strawn wore an illumi- 
nated nose, a purplish-red pair of bloated cheeks, 
and was decidedly unsteady in the use of his 
hands. 

There came a day of disaster to Deacon 
Strawn. It was a Sunday. The church of Lao- 
dicea was thronged by an immense audience. 
It was what was called "a Union Meeting," that is, 
the regular semi-annual day of communion. The 
good pastor, a man who had very decided convic- 
tions that " a little good old rye was good for the 
body of man as well as an aid to the spiritual 
life in the soul," occupied the pulpit. Now, 
Deacon Strawn was a singer. It was inspiring 
to see tho beatific expression of the deacon's 



114 * PREVALETTCE OF 

conntenance as he rolled out, in quavering 
voice, '' When I can read my title clear, etc." 
The deacon had got into the middle of the hymn 
on' the occasion under consideration. He evi- 
dently felt happy. It so happened that old 
brother Dan Sartsfield occupied a seat by the 
side of Deacon Strawn, and when the deacon was 
most enwrapped in devotion through song, 
brother Dan cautiously and carefully examined 
a certain suspicious protuberance of the deacon's 
side pocket. The result of his examination in- 
duced him to believe that a quart " tickler" rested 
close up against the deacon's heart. To test the 
correctness of this opinion, about the time the 
singer was reaching the close of the hymn, the 
guileful brother contrived an accident, which 
brought the top of his heavy hickory cane with 
great force against the outer side of Deacon 
Strawn's "tickler." There was a crash of break- 
ing glass; a stream of fluid poured down the 
deacon's side to the pew, and thence flowed in a 
rivulet along the floor in front of the pulpit. Of 
course the deacon was confused, and brother 
Dan was profuse in apologies, and the remainder 
of the congregation enjoyed an audible smile. 
The beloved pastor rose, smoothed down his 
white locks, adjusted his spectacles, looked over 
the congregation with a sort of half-regretful, 
benevolent expression, took in a sniff of the 
ascending aroma, and plaintively remarked: 
^'Brethren and sisters, it appears that there has 



IKTEMPERANCE IN AMEEICA. 115 

been a great waste of the oil of gladness some- 
where around here this morning," and, looking 
at Deacon Strawn in the most sympathizing man- 
ner, he proceeded to draw a moral from the cir- 
cumstance of the deacon's broken ''tickler," and 
the consequent waste of so large a quantity of 
the " oil of gladness," otherwise called "old rye." 
But what of the ^deacon ? Well, that worthy 
pillar said he had been ailing for some time and 
had just got a little good spirits for medicinal 
purposes. Brother Sartsfield remarked that he 
was " mighty sorry for Deacon Strawn ; for, 
judging by the amount of medicine — i. e., 'old 
rye'— he consumed, he must be the most con- 
stantly ailing man that belonged to the church 
of Christ at Laodicea." 

The above is no fancy sketch, but a plain nar- 
ration of an actual occurrence at a church in one 
of the Western States. It might have occurred 
almost anywhere, fifty or sixty years ago. 

It is impossible to convey to our readers an 
adequate idea of the deplorable condition of 
American society at the close of the first decade 
of the present century. Tlie vice of intemper- 
ance had invaded almost every household. The 
laboring classes were strongly addicted to drunk- 
enness, and scenes of brutality, strife and blood- 
shed were occurrences of every day life — especial- 
ly in the small towns and villages. Morning, 
noon and evening witnessed the appearance of 
the jug and grog cups. Fathers and mothers 



116 PREVALENCE OP 

drank toddies, mingled the strong drink with 
sugar and water and gave it to their children. 
E-ich and poor, male and female, old and ^^oung, 
all drank. The delicate lady took it to give her 
strength ; the strong woman drank it in order 
that she might continue strong: the hlooming 
maiden drank because she did not want the roses 
to fade. When it was cold, people drank to 
create warmth ; when it was liot, men drank to 
cool themselves off. Whisky was regarded as a 
sort of catholicon — a universal panacea. We 
give the above as a fair statement of the drinking 
habits of the people in large sections of country, 
where women as well as men were addicted to 
habitual drinking. But justice compels to the 
admission that in those days of universal drink- 
ing in the greater portion of the United States 
the women were comparatively temperate. 

It is a noteworthy fact that in some communi- 
ties where the men unanimously agreed that 
drunkenness was no crime and carried with it no 
stigma, that Christians might drink and carouse 
without being grievous sinners, the women, sub- 
jected as they were to all these vitiating influ- 
ences, remained temperate, modest and chaste. 
Thus their example was still left as a rallying 
point in effecting the regeneration of their hus- 
bands, brothers and sons. If woman brought 
sin into the world, as has been charged, she has 
also been a potent factor in all efforts to effect a 
reformation of mankind. And it appears that 



INTEMPERANCE IN AMEEICA. Il7 

there have been times when hut for woman, the 
world would have heen'remanded to a condition 
of bestial degradation, the full extent of which 
it is impossible to conceive or describe. 

•It is not easy to imagine the condition of this 
country in 1810. The ministers did not preach 
temperance then as a part of their ministerial 
duties ; church members were not required to-be 
strictly temperate. The laws of hospitality, as 
developed in this country, required that strong 
drink should be offered to the wayfarer on enter- 
ing the house of a fellow-citizen ; pledges of 
friendship and neighborly amenity were sealed 
in potations of alcoholic liquors. 

With the great moral influence of the churches 
practically indifferent to the mighty evil that 
stalked abroad in the. land; with the social 
habits of the people firmly fixed in favor of 
drinking customs ; with a majoriby of the ]Dhysi- 
cians prescribing wines and liquors as stimulants 
and tonics ; with the tremendous power of the 
press positively committed to the interests of in- 
temperance ; w^itli politicians to encourage drunk- 
enness by ridiculing sober-minded men; with 
abundant facilities for the cheap production of 
alcoholic liquors ; with a vitiated public senti- 
ment which attributed no disgrace to occasional 
sprees ; with a society organized to shield the 
victims of intemperance from the consequences 
of their folly, what grounds were there for enter- 
taining a hope that the demon would soon be 



118 PREVALE^^CE OF INTEMPERANCE. 

vanquished ? And yet, in that dark night of the 
temperance cause, there were, here and there, 
glimmerings of light, like candles burning in the 
depths of caverns, around which gathered earnest 
souls who prayed for the dawning of the morn- 
ing light of redemption. 



CHAPTER YIII. 

SOME OLD TIME TEMPERAl^CE SOCIETIES. 

As we have shown in a previous chapter, the 
people of the United States were generally 
addicted to drunkenness — at least to habitual 
dram-drinking — which very naturally led to 
periodical fits of inebriety. The men testified 
their mutual regard for each other by joining in 
taking a glass of ancient spirits together, and the 
ladies celebrated the casual visits of female 
friends with an offering of the latest fashionable 
liqueur. Ministers of the gospel, as a rule, im- 
agined that they could pray with more unction 
and preach with more power by taking a little 
something to stimulate the faculties. There is 
still extant an account book of the South Society, 
in Hartford, of the date of 1784. It was on the 
occasion of the ordination of a minister, and 
was a bill of expenses for keeping ministers 2^re- 
sented by the keeper of a house of entertainment. 
The document bears date of May 24tli. Among 
the items mentioned are mugs of toddj^, cigars, 
and pints of wine. One of these bills contains a 
charge for "15 boles of punch, 11 bottles of 



120 SOME OLD TIME 

wine, 5 mngs of flip and 6 boles of toddy." This 
for one day. 

In the summer of 1811 the General Assembly 
of the Presbyterian Church met in Philadelphia. 
Before this influential body of Christian minis- 
ters and eminent laymen, the distinguished Dr. 
Benjamin K-ush appeared, and in a noble appeal 
urged the Cliurch to adopt some scheme that 
should arouse the public mind to the dangers 
which threatened the Church and the K'ation 
growing out of the wide-spread prominence of 
intemperance. The Assembly appointed a com- 
mittee, among the members of which were Rev. 
Drs. Romeyn Richards, Gardiner Spring, Mil- 
ler Milledoler and others, who were instructed 
''to devise measures which, when sanctioned 
by the General Assembly, may have an influence 
in preventing some of the numerous and threat- 
ening mischiefs which are experienced through- 
out our country, etc." 

In the same year, 1811, a temperance society 
was organized in Weathersfield, Connecticut. 
As to the particular nature of tliis association 
and the amount of good accomplished through 
its agency we have no information. 

The next year, 1812, the committee to which 
was referred the overture of Dr. Benjamin Rush 
to the General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church made its report, and that influential 
denomination of Cliristians adopted its recom- 
mendations, and was thus fully committed to 



TEMPEEAlSrCE SOCIETIES. 121 

the cause of temperance ; not total abstinence, 
for the doctrine had not at that time become es- 
tablished. The ministers of the Presbyterian 
church were now instructed '*to deliver public 
discourses on the sin and mischief of intemper- 
ate drinking," and they were further admonish- 
ed "pointedly and solemnly to warn their 
hearers, and especially members of the church, 
not only against actual intemperance, but 
against all those habits and indulgences which 
may have a tendency to produce it." 

A movement began among the Congregational 
ministers of Connecticut in favor of temperance 
as early as 1811, at the General Association 
held in Litchfield. But it came to naught. The 
committee appointed to inquire into the evil 
reported that they had investigated the subject 
referred to them for consideration, and had 
"ascertained that the evil was tremendous, and 
was still increasing ; but your committee cannot 
see that anything can be done to arrest its pro- 
gress." 

Dr. Lyman Beecher had just then been set- 
tled over the congregation at Litchfield. He was 
deeply interested in the cause of temperance. 
He was not satisfied to yield to the great foe to 
Christian morality. Through his influence, the 
General Association appointed another commit- 
tee, and Dr. Beecher was made its chairman. A 
report from this committee was immediately 
made. In this a recommendation of total abstin- 



122 SOME OLD TIME 

ence from strong drink by individuals and fam- 
ilies was made. This recommendation was 
deemed absurd by many. It was regarded as 
ludicrous and impracticable. What ! Men not 
to be permitted to take an occasional drink ! 

During the same year the Consociation of 
Fairfield County, Connecticut, resolved to begin 
the reform within their own body ; and besides 
excluding all spirituous liquors from their meet- 
ings, they in the year following published a 
public appeal against the usages of society 
touching the drinking customs prevalent, which 
is supposed to have been written by the Rev. 
H-eman Humphrey, afterwards president of Am- 
herst College. In that appeal we have not only 
a clear and conclusive argument against the 
drinking habits of the people, but also a strong 
indictment of the rum traffic. This document is 
also remarkable for containing some of the 
earliest distinct utterances in favor of total ab- 
stinence from all intoxicants, and the duty of 
the individual and the state to carry out the 
suppression of the enormous vice. In that docu- 
ment we find the following : 

" The remedy we would suggest, particularly 
to those whose appetite for drink is strong and 
increasing, is a total abstinence from the use of 
all intoxicating liquors. This may be deemed 
a harsh remedy, but the nature of the disease 
absolutely requires it." 

The twelfth day of February, 1813, witnessed 



TEMPERAITCE SOCIETIES. 123 

the formation of tlie first state temperance or- 
ganization. This act was consummated in the 
hall of the Union Bank of Boston, and the name 
selected was "The Massachusetts Society for the 
Suppression of Intemperance." Hon. Samuel 
Dexter was made president. Among his asso- 
ciates in the movem.ent were John Lathrop, Isaac 
Rand, Jeremiah Evarts, Samuel Parkman, John 
Warren, Elisha Ticknor, Dudley A. Tyng, 
Joshua Huntington and others of like high char- 
acter and social position. The object of the 
society was declared to be " to suppress and dis- 
countenance the too free use of ardent spirits and 
its kindred vices, and to encourage and promote 
temperance and general morality." 

But this society accomplished little. It was 
not a temperance society in the strict sense of 
the term. The anniversary was duly observed, 
and a sermon in commendation of sobriety was 
preached by some distinguished minister pre- 
viously selected, and then the members adjourned 
to a dinner spread on tables heavily laden with 
wines. ' 

Under such circumstances no great result!^ 
could be anticipated. And yet, defective as was 
the organization, it was not without some good 
fruits. County organizations were created, and 
the annual sermons were printed and circulated, 
and the result was that a higher plane was 
reached in the discussion of the question, and 



124 -SOME OLD TDIE 

some men began to avoid tlie nse of liquors al- 
too:etlier. It was an effort to advance. 

The annual sermon before the societv in 1816 
Tvas preached b} Eev. Dr. Appleton. of Bowdoin 
college, and was an elegaut and eloquent plea for 
temperance. In that discourse he alluded to the 
service rendered bv the society in collectino; facts 
and disseminating information among the people, 
which caused inquiry and set the people to 
thinking, which he regarded as essential to anj 
successful progress. 

The year ISIS was not very prolific in results 
of the feeble temperance movements throughoiit 
the country. But the cause had been gaining 
strength ciuietly and extending the circle of in- 
fluence. In Yirginia considerable progress was 
made, and in South Carolina a number of socie- 
ties were formed. The various religious denom- 
inations" in the last named state adopted temper- 
ance views and gave considerable force to the 
movements. Along the sea coast of Xew Eng- 
land it was manifest the causB of temperance had 
made decided advances. In this year the legis- 
lature of Vermont issued an address to the peo- 
ple in which the doctrine of legal prohibition 
was first hinted at. This document gave 
something of an impetus to the movement 
in behalf of temperance in ]S'ew England. 

In 1S19 it became manifest that the cause of the 
temperance was being advanced in a more ag- 
gressive spirit than had before characterized the 



TETVIPEPwANCE SOCIETIES. 125 

action of its advocates. The doctrine of legisla- 
tive interfereiice to suppress the traffic liad now 
found advocates, and it was boldly claimed that 
it was the right of the people to put awaj^ by 
statutes such things as militated against the 
peace, happiness, morality and well-being of 
society. A manifesto from a JN^ew York society 
assumed that the state had no more right to 
license whisky-sellers than keepers of houses of 
lewdness ; and as to the license taxes, it was de- 
clared that '' the evil is admitted to exist, but the 
tax is the price of absolution and forgiveness." 
Hut when we come to sum up the net results of 
the efforts of this year, the showing is infinites- 
imal in good effects. 

Between the years 1819 and 1822 there was 
scarcely an incident worthy to be chronicled in a 
synoptical history of the temperance movement 
in this country. In some districts of Tennesse-e, 
Georgia and Nortli Carolina, there was some 
agitation and a few feeble temperance societies 
were formed. At Charlotte, North Carolina, 
owing to the efforts of a Presbyterian minister, 
the E,ev. Lanson R. Hall, there was something of 
a temperance revival, and a strong association 
was formed in the interest of temperance in May, 
1820. This organization was maintained until 
183*6 — sixteen 3^ears. But this was more of a 
church society, and was merely an adjunct to the 
Presbyterian Church. 

In 1823 the Massachusetts Society for the 



126 SOME OLD TIME 

Suppression of Intemperance awoke from its 
torpor and showed many evidences of a quick- 
ened life. An appeal penned by the Rev. Henry 
Ware, of Boston, was issued '' to the people of 
the Commonwealth of Massachusetts." This ad- 
dress was one of the most powerful documents 
in favor of temperance produced during the early 
stages of the temperance movement. The condi- 
tion of society was portrayed in language that 
arrested attention. " The moral pestilence," 
says this appeal, ''which scatters sufferings 
worse than death, spreads itself everywhere 
around us, but we are unaffected by its terrific 
magnitude and fearful devastation. It would 
be comparatively a little thing if the plague 
should sweep these thousands from our cities ; it 
would be a comfort to know that they perished 
by the hand of God. But now they fall by their 
own hand, and rush downward at their own will 
to the corrupting grave, and we stand by un- 
moved ; we hear with amazement and horror of 
those on a distant continent who in the infatuation 
of religious superstition cast themselves on the 
burnins: piles of their husbands, or fling their 
bodies before the rolling car of a monster idol. 
But this sudden infatuation of the multitude at 
home who are sacrificing themselves beneath the 
operations of a slow and brutish passion, hardly 
moves us to a momentary consideration." 

This appeal assumed that the existence of the 
monstrous vice of intemperance ^nd the disas- 



TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. 127 

trous eipTects flowing therefrom, were clear and 
undeniable facts. To meet this, it was declared 
that no man nor body of men were able to strike 
at the root'=i of the evil and extirpate the noxious 
poison. Only tlie Legislature of the IS'ation was 
reckoned able to crush it. 

Thus the ground was early taken by Kew Eng- 
land temperance advocates, that exhortations, 
tracts, sermons and lectures could only prove a 
partial and inadequate remedy. By these means 
imperceptible advantages over the foe might be 
gained, a few leaves and branches might be lop- 
ped oif here and there, but the trunk would re- 
main vigorous and pernicious as ever. The power 
of the law should be extended to embrace the 
cause and the evil removed by abolishing the 
traffic through the instrumentality of legislation. 

The appeal was not without effect. Ministers 
took up the subject, inquiry was set on foot, and 
an interest in the subject never before noticed 
was the immediate result. 

Rev. Dr. Justin Edwards, a temperance reformer 
who had been for seven or eight years an earnest 
pleader against the use of intoxicating liquors, 
was particularly conspicuous about this time, 
wrote several tracts, among them the quite cele- 
brated one on a ''Well-Conducted Farm," which 
was a descrix^tion of the farm as managed by its 
owner, S. Y. S. Wilder, Esq., of Bolton, who ex- 
cluded rum as part of the subsistence furnished 
to the laborers. 



128 SOME OLD TIME 

Another apostle of the cause of temperance 
ahout this time was the E,ev. Joshua Leavitt of 
Stratford, Connecticut, who was a voluminous 
contributor to the Christian Spectator. He wrote 
on the principle of a total abstinence from all 
intoxicating liquors. 

Nearly at the same time, the Rev. Calvin Chapin 
contributed a series of powerfully written articles 
to the Connecticut Observer, on ''Total Absti- 
nence the only Infallible Antidote.'' These pa- 
pers were exceedingly able. Tlie writer went to 
the very root of the subject, and in logic and 
power of argument few works on temperance from 
that day to this have equaled this series, and it 
is believed that none have been written which 
have surpassed them in dealing with the moral 
aspects of the question. 

During this year a volume of sermons was 
published by Rev. Eliphalet l^ott, D. D., Presi- 
dent of Union College, on " The Monstrous Yice 
of Intemperance." These sermons were able 
presentations of the religious side of the ques- 
tion and did no little to assist in the development 
of a public opinion opposed to the rum-drinking 
customs of that time. 

Thus the little streams of influence were fed 
from small reservoirs at first. But as they flowed 
on and united in their courses, they grew into great 
forces, and in a manner became formidable to 
their opponents who had at first despised their 
insignificance. Year by year the cause of tern- 



TEMPEEAKCE SOCIETIES. 129 

perance advanced slowly but surely tlirougli the 
transition of public opinion and the force of 
social organizations. The temperance people of 
Massachusetts, indeed of all the states, happened 
to be persons holding the very highest social 
stations, so that the potent element of deference 
to respectability was thrown into the struggle in 
favor of conquering the iniquitous drinking 
habit. But events were not rapid in those days. 
Silently and almost imperceptibly the temper- 
ance cause was advancing, but there were no 
great uprisings such as characterized the Wash- 
ingtonian movement, the mission of Father 
Mathew, the appearance of the Sons of Tem- 
perance, the organization of the Independent 
Order of Good Templars, and the more recent 
Women's Crusade and Reform Movements. But 
society was being instructed and prepared for 
better things. The fallow fields were being 
broken up, and preparations were going forward 
slowly to inaugurate a new idea of the duties 
and responsibilities of society. 

The year and month arrived at last for the 
enemies of King Alcohol to unite in a great 
army to accomplish his dethronement. 

There were giants in those days, and some of 
the leaders of the temperance movement were 
among them. There had been a great revolution in 
opinion effected since the organization of the 
Massachusetts Society for the Suj^pression of In- 
temperance in 1813, when a meeting of leading 
5 



130 SOME OLB TIME 

temperance advocates assembled at Andover in 
the summer of 1825. There were many men who 
had not only agreed that the consumption of rum 
was hurtful, but that wine-drinlving was baneful 
in its effects. The Andover meeting, while with- 
out immediate perceptible results, nevertheless, 
served to keep alive the interest in the work, and 
was the beginning of a series of movements of 
the most momentous character. It bore much 
fruit in the following year. 

The great question which the leaders of the 
temperance movement asked at that time has not 
yet been answered. It was : " What shall be 
done to banish intemperance from the United 
States i"' Toward the close of the year 1825, Dr. 
Justin Edwards took measures to call a confer- 
ence of the friends of the cause at Boston. On the 
tenth day of January, 1826, a small company met 
w^itli Dr. EdwardSj and the prospects of the cause 
of temperance were talked about, and it was gen- 
erally agreed that a strict temperance organiza- 
tion should be at once called into existence, 
broad enough to serve for all earnest men en- 
gaged in promoting the cause throughout the 
whole country. A committee was accordingly 
appointed to draft a constitution for such a 
society, and correspond with tenijperance advo- 
cates throughout the country. 

A little more than a month afterward — Feb- 
ruary 13tli — the conference met once more. The 
constitution prepared by the committee was re- 



TEMPERAITCE SOCIETIES. 131 

ceived and adopted. In this instrument it was 
declared that the object of ^' The American Tem- 
perance Society" was " to produce such a change 
of public sentiment and such a renovation of the 
habits of individuals aud the customs of the com- 
munity, that temperance, with all its attendant 
blessings, may universally prevail." It was pro- 
vided that everything expedient should be done 
to promote the formation of local associations 
voluntarily entered into to further the aims of the 
society. The pledge of members was " Total 
Abstinence from Ardent Spirits." The first pres- 
ident of the American Temperance Society was 
Hon. Marcus Morton, of Boston. Kev. Dr. Justin 
Edwards, on behalf of the society, prepared an 
address to the people, setting forth the object and 
purposes of the society. 

There was, at that time in Boston, a noted 
minister who had long been proclaiming the gos- 
pel of temperance. He was a kind of Evangelist 
who delighted in assailing all manner of vices in 
the strongholds where they were fortified. A 
remarkable man was Rev. IS'athaniel Hewitt, 
D. D; He was one of the most eloquent men of 
his time in New England, and he was as bold as 
he was eloquent. There are many interesting- 
anecdotes on record of the power which he exer- 
cised over audiences. "When I first heard Dr. 
Nathaniel Hewitt on this subject," writes Dr. 
Marsh, " I was amazed at his boldness. Every 



132 SOME OLD TIME 

stone was a weight of a talent, and it was of no 
consequence with Mm who was hit." 

The newly organized society engaged the ser- 
vices of Dr. Hewitt on the first of March, 1826, to 
go forth as an Evangelist in the canse of temper- 
ance. Of his first efi"ort in behalf of the society 
Dr. Marsh writes : ''The first sermon he preached 
was in Dr. Spring's pulpit, and it was like the roll- 
ing of a ball among ten-pins. Several of the first 
men of the city went home and emptied their 
bottles." 

"With such an apostle abroad it is not a mat- 
ter for wonder that the whole country was electri- 
fied. The influence of his powerful blows was felt 
not only in ISTew England, but in every state in 
the Union. Societies were organized everywhere. 
There was scarcely a county in the whole country 
in which one or more societies were not organized. 

In April of that year, 1826, a temperance jour- 
nal was established in Boston by the Rev. Wil- 
liam Collier, who failed not to inculcate through 
the columns of i\iQ^' National PMlantliropisV^ the 
doctrine that '^ Temperate Drinking is the Down- 
hill Road to Intemperance," which he had adopt- 
ed as his motto. 

The JSational PMl''inf7iropistw2i^ removed in no 
long time to New York, and was subsequently 
merged in the '^Journal of Humanity,^'' under the 
editorial management of Eev. Edward W. Hooker. 
This paper located at Andover, was the off'spring 
of the efl'orts of the American Temperance Socie- 



TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. 133 

ty, and was sustained and recognized as the organ 
of that association. 

During this year the Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher 
delivered liis famous ''Six Sermons" against "The 
Curse of Intemperance." These are remarkable 
productions. Seldom has the world been favored 
with anything finer. His thoughts were clear, 
lucid, powerful. His soul seemed as if on fire. 
We cannot forbear to make an extract from one 
of these tremendous discourses : 

'•Could all the forms of evil produced in the 
land by intemperance come upon us in one hor- 
rid array, it would appal the nation, and put an 
end to the traffic in ardent spirits. If in every 
dwelling built by blood the stones from the walls 
should utter all the cries which the awful traffic 
extorts, and the beams of wood echo them back, 
who would build such a house ? What if in every 
part of the dwelling, from the cellar upward, 
through all the halls and chambers, babblings 
and contortions, and voices and groans, and 
shrieks and waitings were heard every night? 
What if the cold blood oozed out, and stood in 
drops upon the walls, and by preternatural art 
all tne ghastly skulls and bones of the victims de- 
stroyed by intemperance were dimly seen haunt- 
ing the distilleries and stores where the}^ received 
their bane, following the track of the ships en- 
gaged in the commerce, walking the waves, flit- 
ting athwart the deck, sitting upon the rigging, 
and sending up from the hold within, and from 



134 SOME OLD TIME 

tlie waves without, groans and loud laments and 
wailings ! Who would attend such stores ? Who 
would lahor in such distilleries ? Who would 
navigate such ships ?" 

Such fearful language could not fail to arouse 
an interest in the subject. Even at this distant 
day, with the changes in the manners of the 
people and the modes of thought which time has 
effected, it is impossible to read these sermons 
of Dr. Lyman Beecher without a shudder. Some 
of his flights are tremendous, some of his pic- 
tures of the woes caused by intemperance are 
simply frightful. To read them thrills the soul 
with inexpressible horror. 

Through the evangelistic labors of Dr. Hewitt, 
who journeyed across the Alleglianies and down 
through the Carolinas, the society was rejoiced 
at the extent of the work accomplished when it 
came together to celebrate- its first anniversary. 
In sixteen states of the Union temperance so- 
cieties had been organized and more than 30,000 
had taken the pledge, engaging for themselves 
and families to abstain from the use of ardent 
spirits. In the space of twelve months, six 
state and two hundied" and twenty-two county 
and local temperance societies had been formed. 

The warfare between temperance and intem- 
perance had now opened in good earnest. Organ- 
ization was accomplishing its work. The enemy, 
though strongly intrenched, had suffered defeats. 
His defenses, though apparently impregnable, 



TEMPERANCE SOCIETIES. 135 

had Ibeen badly "battered. It was no longer an 
abstraction that men could live without the ac- 
cursed beverage. Thousands of men had prac- 
tically solved any doubt that might have existed. 
The movement against drunkenness had advanced 
to the high plane of a true temperance principle. 
The wheels were in motion ; the car of progress 
was moving on ; the dark night had passed ; the 
dawn vf a brighter day had burst upon the 
world. Truly, the year 1826 was a memorable 
one in the history of the temperance cause. 



CHAPTEE IX. 

PROGEESS OF THE TEMPEEANCE M0VEME:N'T. 

Tlie temperance "banner was now fairly un- 
furled. ''The cold water army,'^ as the total ab- 
stainers were called, had achieved many signal 
victories. In some towns where intemperance 
prevailed in its grossest forms, the people had 
shaken off the fetters and went about clothed 
and in their right minds. Taverns were closed 
and the temperate and moral members of the 
community thanked God, took courage and 
went forth to attack other strongholds held loy 
the subjects of King Alcohol. In 1827 the medi- 
cal society of New Hampshire discussed the uses 
and abuses of alcoholic liquors, and finally 
adopted a resolution declaring it to be their pro- 
found conviction that water was "the only proper 
beverage for man." 

During the year 1828 many taverns all over 
the country were compelled to close for want of 
patronage, and not a few distilleries closed be- 
cause they had no market for the liquors they 
produced. 

Several events worthy of notice occurred in the 



TEMPERAlSrCE MOVEMENT. 137 

year 1829. On the ITtli day of January of that 
year a meeting of temperance- workers was held 
at Albany which resulted in the organization of 
the New York State Temperance Society. This 
result was achieved through the instrumentality 
of Mr. Edward C. Delavan, a man whose exer- 
tions in the temperance cause we will have occa- 
sion to mention again in the progress of this 
work. 

The 22nd day of February, 1829, was solemnly 
set apart as a day of "fasting and prayer on ac- 
count of intemperance." On that day many 
noble temperance sermons were preached which 
served to keep alive the interest in the cause. 

The Connecticut State Temperance Society 
was organized on the 20th of May in this year. 
The meeting which resulted in this organization 
was held at Hartford. President Jeremiah Day, 
of Yale College, was made Chairman, and Rev. 
Dr. Calvin Chapin was made Chairman of the 
Executive Committee, while Rev. Dr. John 
Marsh was called to fill the ofiice of Secretary 
and General Agent of the association. 

On the 18th of October, at a meeting of the 
Windham County Temperance Society, the Sec- 
retary delivered a remarkable address which 
was printed and circulated as a tract. In a short 
time 150,000 copies were disposed of. The meet- 
ing was held at Pomfret, near which town was 
located the scene of the adventures of General 
Israel Putnam's wolf-hunt. The subject of the 



138 PEOGRESS OF THE 

address was "General Patnam and the Wolf.^' 
Everybody about Pomfret was familiar with the 
story, and the interest excited was intense. The 
story was detailed circumstantially. The wolf- 
den was near by. The uprising of the old far- 
mers of Pomfret against the ravening depredator 
upon their sheep-folds was graphically portrayed. 
When the interest of the people was at its 
height, the orator paused, and looking around, 
exclaimed, "We have the wolf- den here in our 
midst, and day after day and night after night 
the ravenous beast seeks its prey." It destroys 
not the lives of sheep, but it murders men ! " 
And then the speaker went on to draw a com- 
parison between the wolf of Putnam's day prey- 
ing upon sheep and the awful depredations com- 
mitted by alcohol upon men. 

It was estimated in 1830 that there were not 
less than 60,000 men enrolled in temperance 
societies. One of the events of the year was the 
delivery of a great temperance speech at Detroit, 
Michigan, by General Lewis Cass, who declared 
himself a cold-water drinker, and gave it as his 
opinion that whisky-drinkers could not endure 
the same amount of fatigue as those who drank 
water only. Two eminent physicians. Dr. Hosack 
of l^ew York and Dr. Sewallof Washington 
City, came out strongly in favor of temperance. 

L. M. Sargent, a fine scholar and a law graduate 
of Harvard, commenced the publication of a 
series of Te,mperance Tales during this year. 



TEMPEEA]N"CE MOVEMENT. l89 

Professor Moses Stewart, of Andover, wrote a 
prize essay which combated the idea that a pro- 
fessor of religion could consistently use alcoholic 
liquors as an article of luxury or traffic. This 
essay, which was published towards the close of 
the year, produced a profound sensation in the 
religious societies of JSTew England. 

In 1831 Dr. Justin Edwards, who may be re- 
garded as the father of the American temperance 
movement, visited Washington, and, by permis- 
sion, addressed the American Congress in the 
capitol on the subject of temperance. He als"0 
delivered a number of addresses at Georgetown, 
Baltimore, Wilmington, and other places. The 
result of Dr. Edwards' temperance missionary 
tour was the organization of ten societies, with 
an aggregate membership of more than a 
thousand. 

The temperance cause had made siibstantial 
progress in the land, and temperance men had 
become a social power. Mr. Edward C. Delavan 
of Albany, a gentleman who had accumulated a 
large fortune as a merchant and retired from 
business when still a young man, had his atten- 
tion called at an early day to the temperance 
cause, and became a firm convert to the piinci- 
ples of total abstinence. In pursuance of his 
convictions he caused the large stock of costly 
wines and liquors stored in the cellars of his 
mansion to be removed, and he himself entered 
at once with zeal in the work of promoting the 



140 PEOGRESS OF TELE 

interests of tlie temperance c^use. His time and 
Ms money were given with liberality to tlie work 
whicli lie held near to his heart. 

During the year 1831 Mr. Delavan provided 
means for sending the famous Evangelist of 
Temperance, Rev. Dr. Hewitt, as a missionary 
to England to help out the cause in that country. 
That mission was successful, and great results 
followed from the efforts of Dr. Hewitt. 

Before the close of the year, state temperance 
societies had been organized in all but five of the 
states of the Union. These were Maine, Alabama, 
Louisiana, Illinois and Missouri. There were 
then in existence 2,200 societies with an aggre- 
gate membership of 170,000 members. 

The most notable event in connection with the 
temperance cause in 1832 was the accession 
of the distinguished scholar and divine, Rev. 
Dr. Francis Wayland, president of Brown 
University. During this year that eminent man 
dealt some telling blows for the cause. He asked 
" Would it be right for me to derive my living 
from selling poison or from propagating plague 
and leprosy around me ?" 

It was dumng this year that the whole country 
became seriously alarmed on account of the 
steady march of the Asiatic cholera towards our 
shores. Phj'sicians declared that persons ad- 
dicted to strong drink were peculiarly liable to 
attack. The Board of Health of Washington 
City issued an order reciting that the vending of 



. TKMPEEAlSrCE MOVEMENT. 141 

ardent spirits, in whatever quantity, was consid- 
ered a nuisance^ and as sucli tlie sale of it was 
directed to be discontinued for the space of 
ninety days. 

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
church this year denounced the use of ardent 
spirits even in moderation, as " a fatal soul-de- 
stroying barrier against the influence of the 
gospel." 

General Lewis Cass, who once declared that he 
had never taken a drink of whisky in his life, 
and who was an open advocate of the temperance 
cause, was Secretary of War in 1832, and carried 
out his convictions of duty toward the soldiers 
under his control by issuing an order prohibiting 
the introduction of ardent spirits into any fort, 
camp, or garrison of ths United States, and pro- 
hibiting their sale by any sutler to the troops. 

The year 1833 is memorable in the history of 
the American temperance movement for several 
important events. Among these was the organiza- 
tion of a Congressional Temperance Society 
composed entirely of members of the executive 
ofiicers of the government and members of the 
ISTational Legislature. ' Of this society General 
Lewis Cass, of Michigan, was president. 

Early in this year the friends of temperance, 
in order to meet certain phases of the opposition 
which had been developed against the principles 
of abstinence from ardent spirits, resolved to 
hold a great national temperance convention in 



142 1>R0GRESS OF THE 

May. Accordingly, preparations were at once 
commenced. In March all the temperance so- 
cieties held meetings and appointed delegates. 
A number of English societies also took measures 
to Ibe represented. The meetings of the conven- 
tion were intended to be held in Independence 
Hall, Philadelphia. But when the time arrived 
and the delegates "began to assemble, it was found 
that all of them could not get within the walls 
of that structure, and an adjournment was had 
to the Fifth Presbyterian Church on Arch street. 
The convention was attended by four hundred 
and forty delegates, representing societies in 
every state in the Union. Several English tem- 
perance advocates were also present. 

One of the immediate results of this National 
Convention was the formation of the United 
States Temperance Union, composed of the mem- 
bers of the American Temperance Society of 
Boston and the officers of the several state tem- 
perance societies. 

This association was not very fruitful in works, 
and accomplished little in the way of advancing 
the cause. Some years afterwards, at a meeting 
of this organization, the name was changed to 
"The American Temperance Union," and it at once 
entered upon a career of great usefulness, and in 
a long course of years has accomplished much 
good. 

It was during the year 1833 that state temper- 
ance conventions were held in Worcester, Massa- 



TEMPERAT^CE MOVEMENT 143 

cliTisetts, witli the Governor of the State as pres- 
ident, at Hartford, Conn., at Milledgeville, Geor- 
gia, Columbus, Ohio, Utica, New York, Jackson, 
Mississippi, and Richmond, Virginia. At all of 
these the use of ardent spirits was denounced as 
demoralizing and ruinous. 

The State of Georgia is entitled to the honor 
of leading in legal measures for the suppression 
of the traffic. A law was passed banishing all 
intoxicating liquors from Athens, the city in 
which the State University is located, and the 
authorities in Liberty county, containing a pop- 
ulation of more than 8,000, would not grant per- 
mission for the sale of a drop of any kind of 
intoxicating liquors. It was said, " You can't 
get a horn of whisky in Liberty county." Some 
cases were carried into court to test the right 
of municipal and county officers to refuse license 
to sell whisky, and the court sustained the of- 
ficers. 

At the convention in Jackson, Mississippi, a 
number of eloquent addresses were delivered, 
and the platform adopted took more advanced 
ground than had been taken by the New England 
temperance agitators. It asserted the right of 
the people to say whether or not they would per- 
mit the sale of ardent spirits in their community; 
it claimed for the state the power to prohibit the 
manufacture and traffic in liquors, ai;d called 
upon the people to demand of their rei^resenta- 
tives the enactment of such law^ ua would e]uibl<3 



144 PEOGEESS OF THE 

the people of each town " to protect themselves 
against the introduction of spirituous liquors, if 
a majority of the people of such town declare 
their opposition thereto." 

In New England and New York the work was 
proceeding steadily forward. Brilliant advocates 
of the cause were appearing almost every day. 
While the old war-worn veterans, like Edwards, 
and Hewitt, and Marsh, and Stewart, Delavan, 
Parkman and Wilder were dealing sledge-ham- 
mer blows a-gainst the enemy. ' 

The year 1834 was marked by few incidents of 
a startling character in the temperance move- 
ment. There were a large number of state con- 
ventions held in the beginning of the year. But 
the action taken in most cases was simply a 
re-affirming of principles already announced. 

In February of this year, a convention was 
called for the state of Maine. The leaders in 
this movement followed in the footsteps of their 
friends in Massachusetts, and the action of the 
convention was merely an adoption of the princi- 
ples and policy of the Massachusetts temperance 
conventions. 

On the 4th of March, 1834, the first state tem- 
perance convention ever held in Missouri met in 
St. Louis. The temperance forces were not 
numerous then in that state. The attendance at 
this convention was small, and public sympathy 
was not with the object which called them to- 
gether. Nevertheless, it was not essential 



TEMPERAT^CE MOVEMET^T. 145 

to the men wlio met on that occasion to know 
that they had the good wishes of the public. 
Thej were men who believed drunkenness to be 
a sin, and they denounced it as ''the bane of civil- 
ized countries, ^the curse of human society, and 
an enemy to the well-being of the country that 
must be met at every hazard and fought until 
vanquished." 

In the year 1835 commenced the agitation of 
the No license issue. The government had ap- 
parently admitted the principle of prohibition in 
the law inhibiting the sale of ardent spirits in the 
Indian Territory — a law which had received the 
cordial approval of President Andrew Jackson. 
About the same time a number of men, rlistin- 
guished as scholars, divines and statesmen, gave 
utterance to sentences of condemnation of the 
license system. 

Rev. Dr. Humphrey of Amherst College wrote, 
"It is as clear to me as the sun in a clear sky that 
the license laws of our country constitute one of 
the main pillars on which the stupendous fabric 
of intemperance now rests." 

Hon. Mr. Frelinghuysen, a few years later a 
candidate for Vice-President of the United States, 
on the Whig ticket with Henry Clay, wrote, " If 
men will engage in this destructive traffic, if tliey 
will stoop to degrade their reason and reap the 
wages of iniquity, let them no longer have the 
law-book as a pillow, nor quiet conscience by the 
opiate of a court license." 



146 PROGEESS OF THE 

Judge Pratt wrote thus : "The law which licen- 
ses the sale of ardent spirits is an impediment to 
the temperance reformation, and the tim3 will 
come when dram shops will be indictable at 
common law as public nuisances.'^'' 

The grand jury for the city and county of New 
York, in making a report in 1835, placed on 
record the following : "It is our solemn impres- 
sion that the time has now arrived when our pub- 
lic authorities should no longer sanction the evil 
complained of by granting licenses for the purpose 
of vending ardent spirits, thereby legalizing the 
traffic at the expense of our moral and physical 
power." Tliis grand jury attributed two-thirds 
of the crime and pauperism of the city to the 
influence of intoxicating liquors. The same pro- 
portion holds good until to-day, not only in New 
York, but all over the country. 

It was in 1835 that Rev. Dr. George B. Cheever, 
then a young man located at Salem, Massachu- 
setts, published an account of a dream which he 
had, under the title of "Deacon Giles' Distillery." 
It was a highly sensational production, and 
created an intense interest. To add to the popu- 
larity and extensive circulation of the publica- 
tion, one Deacon Story, who run a distillery and at 
the same time sold bibles, deeming himself per- 
sonated, sued the young preacher for libel, got a 
verdict and Cheever was committed to jail. Bat 
his imprisonment was brief, and his detention 
was an ovation, The ladies of Salem carpeted 



^TEMPERANOE MOVEMENT. 147 

Ms cell and contrived to send Mm choice dinners 
and fragrant flowers. After his release he pro- 
ceeded almost immediately to write another alle- 
gorical story which he entitled " Deacon Jones' 
Brewery; or The Distiller Turned Brewer." In 
this work he vividly depicted devils moving 
around the vats and gathering about the seething 
cauldron, thus proceeding to re-depict the witch 
scene in Macbeth. This book, which was a sort 
of sequel to the first one named, was scarcely less 
exciting than that. 

Dr. Cheever was not the only advocate of the 
temperance cause who dealt manful blows 
against the monstrous vice of drunkenness. Mr. 
Delavan about this time published a series of ar- 
ticles in the American Temperance Intelligencer^ 
which created a profound sensation. In one of 
these articles he charged the brewers of Albany 
with using water for malting purposes drawn from 
a pond into which was thrown all the oifal and 
carrion afforded by the city of Albany. This 
publication excited a lively commotion among 
the brewers of the city, and a combination was ef- 
fected between eight of them, who brought suits 
against Mr. Delavan, laying their damages at 
tliree hundred thousand dollars. Mr. Delavan 
was arrested and held to bail in the penal sum of 
forty thousand dollars. He gave bonds and was 
released. One of the cases was tried five years 
afterward, and went in favor of the defendant — 
Mr. Delavan. The others were dismissed. 



14S PliOGEESS OF TUVa 

The second National Temperance Convention 
was held during the year 1836. Chancellor Wal- 
worth presided. A resolution was moved by 
Rev. Dr. Justin Edwards declaring that thereafter 
the pledge should require total abstinence from 
"all intoxicating liquors." The pledge previous 
to that date had required abstinence from alco- 
holic liquors or ardent spirits. This resolution 
was seconded by Dr. Lyman Beecher, and after 
some discussion, was unanimously adopted. The 
American Temperance Union, which had proved 
somewhat ineffective, was reorganized at this 
National convention at Saratoga, and Hon. John 
H. Cocke, of Virginia, was elected president. 
Edward C. Delavan, of Albany, was placed at the 
head of the Executive Committee. 

On the 15th day of January, 1837, the Journal 
of tlie American Temperance Union was issued. 
The edition of the first number consisted of 
50,000. Mr. Delavan had made a donation of 
^10,000 to the executive committee on condition 
that the first edition of the paper should be 
gratuitously circulated. 

In February, 1838, a committee of the Maine 
Legislature, which had considered a number of 
petitions on the subject of intemperance and the 
liquor trafiic, reported back* a bill prohibiting the 
sale of all ardent spirits in that state. The bill 
was lost in the legislature. It was about this 
time that Hon. Neal Dow, then a prosperous 
young business man of Portland, became j)romi- 



f EMPERANCE MOVEMENT. l4D 

nent in the temperance cause. Mr. Dow entered 
the ranks of the prohibitionists with great earn- 
estness and zeal, and was thenceforward recog- 
nized as a leader. The "Maine Temperance 
Union" was organized this year on the basis of 
total abstinence from all intoxicating drinks. 

Daring the same year the legislature of Massa- 
chusetts passed a law forbidding the sale of 
ardent spirits in a less quantity than fifteen gal- 
lons at any one time. 

The legislature of Tennessee also passed severe 
laws in favor of temperance in 1838. One of the 
bills passed that session in that state forbids the 
sale of whisky, brandy or any other ardent 
spirits in a less amount than one gallon, forbids 
all tavern-keepers, grocers or other merchants 
dealing in ardent spirits to sell or give away any 
intoxicating liquors to any person to be drank 
on the premises occupied by such tavern-keeper, 
grocer or other merchant selling the same. For 
the violation of any of the provisions of this 
law very severe penalties were prescribed. 

During this year the temperance cause was 
greatly strengthened by the visit and eloquent 
addresses of Hon. James S. Buckingham, M. P., 
who, on his arrival at Philadelphia from England, 
was tendered a magnificent reception. He after- 
wards journeyed through the states, making 
eloquent temperance addresses in many places. 

E,ev. John Pierpont about this time made it 
manifest that he was a powerful reasoner as well 



150 PEOGRESS OT THE 

as an elegant Tersifier. He is credited witb hav- 
ing drawn up tlie memorial to the legislature 
which led to the passage of the fifteen-gallon 
law. 

During 1838 Rev. Thomas P. Hunt, having sent 
to London and procured coj^ies of the ''Wine- 
Merchant's Guide" and the ''Distiller's and Liquor 
Compounder's Manual," published a series 
of papers showing the manner in which the vile 
liquors drank generally in this country were 
compounded. The peo23le vrere astonished and 
indignant, and the saloon-keepers and liquor- 
dealers were also outraged hy the publication, 
so that the bitterness between the temperance 
people and liquor-sellers was greatly intensified. 

In 1839 Mississipj)!, in imitation of the law of 
Tennessee, adopted what was long known as the 
' 'gallon law." Tippling — that is selling by the 
drink — was strictly proliibited. 

During this year the legislature of Hlinois 
passed what was known as the ''Local Option 
Law." This act conferred upon towns the power 
to prohibit the introduction and sale of ardent 
spirits within their respective limits whenever a 
majority of the legal voters should declare in 
favor of such prohibition. 

It has been estimated that there were three 
hundred and fifty thousand persons pledged to 
total abstinence from all intoxicating liquors in 
the United States at the close of the year 1839. 
There were in I^ew York state alone 1,200 soci- 



TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT. 151 

eties with, a membership of not less than 130,000. 
In New England more than half the inhabitants 
of the towns were enrolled in societies. At this 
time there were fifteen ably conducted temper- 
ance journals published in this country, and the 
cause was in a prosperous condition. 

Among the agencies which exerted an influ- 
ence in favor of temperance in this year were the 
reports of the wonderful work going on beyond 
the sea, under the leadership of Father Mathew, 
the reports of which reached this countrv and 
gave hope to the temperance workers here. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE T7ASHLN'GT0:N'IA]N' EErOE:5J: EEYIVAL. 

A PARTY of six gentlemen in Baltimore ad- 
dicted to indulgence in ardent spirits liad organ- 
ized themselves into a social drinking club. It 
was on the evening of the 2nd of April, 1840, 
that this club of inebriates met at Chase's tavern 
in Baltimore to engage in a drinking bout. That 
evening a noted lecturer on temperance was 
billed to deliver an address in that citj. "The 
club of six'' resolved to inform themselves as to 
what ''the vain babbler had to say." A commit- 
tee. of their number was accordingly appointed 
to go and hear the lecturer and bring back a re- 
port to the club. 

The committee performed its duty, went, 
heard, and came back with a report favoring 
temperance. Of course such a report provoked a 
warm discussion. The landlord heard the dis- 
putation, and bein^ unable to command himself, 
he broke out into a tirade of abuse of the tem- 
perance cause and denounced all temperance 
lecturers as scoundrels and hypocrites. To this 
torrent of denunciation one of the six replied, 



EEFORM EEViyAL. 153 

"Of course it is for your interest to cry them 
down at any rate." This provoked renewed 
controversy. When it closed the six were con- 
vinced of the folly of drunkenness, and before 
they separated had formed themselves into a 
temperance club, with a pledge of total absti- 
nence from all intoxicating liquors. This club 
they called "The Washington Society." The 
peculiar circumstances under which this new 
temperance movement was inaugurated were not 
without effect. 

The news of the organization of "The Wash- 
ington Society" flew through the country like an 
electric flash. These six men, who had been re- 
deemed from the slavery of drunkenness, fully 
appreciating the blessings flowing from their 
own disenthrallment, resolved to make a mighty 
effort to save others who had fallen into the 
same pit of degradation and dishonor. 

The mission of the Washingtonians was to go 
into the bar-rooms and mingle with those who^ 
had become habitual drinkers, and endeavor by 
moral suasion to recall them to a sense of the 
dignity of manhood from which they had fallen. 

Nothing like the movement which now com- 
menced to agitate the country under the lead of 
the Washingtonians had ever been witnessed on 
this continent. The constitution of the society 
made it strictly an order of reformed drunkards. 
No other class was eligible to membership. 
Starting at Baltimore, it was only a short time 



154 ^ THE WASHINGTOKIAK 

before the movement liad reached the most dis- 
tant cities in the Union. Some of the reformed 
men were educated and talented, and started forth 
as knights well acquainted with all the methods 
of the terrible foe they combated. In such a con- 
test they were able to do valiant service. Thej 
went out by pairs, and going into cities and 
towns and villages they told the story of their 
former degradation, plead with the poor victims 
of the drink-demon to rise in rebellion against 
their tyrant master and rend asunder the fetters 
with which he had bound them. 

The effects of such relation of experience and 
appeals were wonderful. Vast multitudes in the 
cities gathered to hear them. Men in the very 
act of drinking down draughts of liquor cast 
from them the tempting cup, and rushed away 
from the taverns to return no more. At one 
meeting in Boston it was estimated that no less 
than 12,000 persons were present. 
> In the space of three months two Washington- 
ian missionaries obtained in the states of New 
York, New Jersey and Delaware no less than thir- 
ty-four thousand signers to the total abstinence 
pledge. We can appreciate the character of this 
work when we recall the fact that the peculiar mis- 
sion of the Washingtonians was to save the fallen, 
and that a large proportion of the great army 
who had taken the pledge were confirmed 
inebriates. Night after night the members of this 
order of redeemed drunkards were to be found 



KEFORM REVIVAL. 155 

about tlie taverns and barrooms persuading men 
to turn away from the poisoned cups of reason- 
destroying liquor. It was not a pleasant duty 
which they had taken upon themselves to per- 
form, but past experience eminently qualified 
them for the work. They knew the infatuations, 
humors, and whims of inebriates, and could, 
therefore, more readily reach them. 

In less than a year the number of reformed 
drankards gathered into the Washington Society 
of Boston was six thousand ; seven thousand had 
been gathered in from the whisky shops and rum 
mills of Baltimore ; in New Orleans the society 
numbered six thousand members ; in Mobile two 
thousand. In the state of Ohio the membership 
of this order numbered sixty thousand ; in Penn- 
sylvania twenty-nine thousand ; in Kentucky 
thirty thousand ; in Tennessee more than twenty- 
five thousand; while in other states large num- 
bers had been reclaimed. The movement was 
wide-spread, and for a time excited the deepest 
interest. 

But the truth of history compels the admission 
that, in numberless instances, the reforms efiected 
were ephemeral, and the drunkards who for a 
season walked upright, clothed and in their right 
minds, returned to the embrace of the demon, 
and were again lost to honor and self-respect. 
"The sow that was washed returned to tlie 
wallow, and the dog to his vomit." The high 



156 THE WASHINGTONIAK 

hopes wMcli had been built upon the great move- 
ment of the "Washingtonians were not fully real- 
ized. But their mission was not in vain. While 
it is unquestionably true that a large number of 
those whose signed the pledge during the height 
of the excitement attending the Washingtonian 
revival fell by the wayside, and at last filled 
drunkard's graves, it is equally certain that 
thousands upon thousands who then turned away 
from the temptations of the taverns, went for- 
ward and fought the good fight unto the end. 
The temperance societies gained mightily during 
the progress of this movement. And if we are 
to credit the accounts of ministers and the records 
of churches, the borders of the Christian Zion 
were greatly enlarged through the accessions 
gained in consequence of that movement. Men 
became temperate, then became church attend- 
ants, and finally active, working Christians. 
Was the Washingtonian movement then a vain 
contest against King Alcohol ? Surely not. There 
are old men, venerated and respected in the 
churches and in the councils of the nation, who 
can date the commencement of useful lives 
to the days of the Washingtonians, when they 
rebelled against the accursed tyranny of the appe- 
tite for strong drink. And there are scattered all 
over this country happy families in the enjoy- 
ment of ample fortunes accumulated by men who 
commenced the earnest struggle of life after their 
rescue from the contaminating influences of the 



EEFOKM REVIVAL. 157 

saloon, through the instrumentality of the 
Washingtonian missionaries. 

The principles of the Washingtonians did not 
accord with the views of large numbers of the 
ministers of that day, and consequently the new 
order of temperance revivalists certainly did not 
have very much encouragement from the pastors 
of churches. Another cause for the luke-warm- 
ness of the preachers was the fact that the Wash- 
ingtonians disconnected their movement from 
any religious principles whatever. For this 
reason not a few ministers refused to permit 
their church houses to be used by tiie speakers 
of the Washingtonian societies, and thus a spirit 
of antagonism was engendered between the 
agencies engaged in propagating the gospel 
and the agencies at work to redeem m.en from 
the curse of intemperance. In some cases 
this feeling was intensified by the injudi- 
cious course pursued by the Washingtonians, 
who denounced the ministers and cast insinua- 
tions against the churches because they had been 
refused permission to hold their meetings in the 
houses of worship. Again, it is quite possible 
that in many cases the degree of opposition was 
heightened by that feeling of self-complacency 
or vanity which ministers — being human — may 
sometimes possess, and as they were neither the 
originators nor the leaders in the movement, they 
felt themselves ii^nored, therefore refused to have 
any affiliation for, or lend any assistance to it. 



158 THE WASHI]N'GT0:N'IAN 

Still the good accomplished by that movement 
can never be estimated. It has been figured that 
no less than 150,000 drunkards were permanently 
rescued from their thraldom and restored to use- 
fulness through the instrumentality of the Wash- 
ingtonians. Is this nothing? A hundred and 
fifty thousand men, outcasts from society, many 
of them husbands and fathers, were saved from 
degradation, and recovered to respectability and 
good citizenship. And shall we be told that a 
movement which plucked from the very mouth 
of hell so many immortals was a failure ? No, 
it was not, but rather a grand achievement. 

TheWashingtonian movement greatly strength- 
ened the temperance cause and prepared the way 
for organizations of a permanent character, and 
these societies have been the instrumentalities 
through which the cause of temperance has been 
promoted until our times. Growing out of that 
remarkable revival several temperance orders 
came into existence. Immediately upon the subsi- 
dence of the Wasliingtonian revival, the Order of 
Sons of Temperance was founded — an order which 
accomplished mighty works — and still exists as 
a solid phalanx around which the temperance 
element may rally in times of defeat. After- 
ward was instituted the Order of Friends of 
Temperance. This, like the Sons of Temperance, 
was an immediate consequence of the Washing- 
tonian movement. Then, at a time a little later, 
the Independent Order of Grood Templars was 



BEFOEM REVIVAL. 159 

instituted. Previous to the inception of the 
Washingtonian movement there v^ere temperance 
societies and unions held together by very 
slender ties indeed. Subsequently all the great 
temperance orders which are to-day bound to- 
gether in the most solemn manner and engaged 
in battling with the demon of strong drink were 
organized. 

Dr. Wisner, a pastor at Lockport, where more 
than seven hundred persons united with the 
church, attributes no small part of the result of 
the great revival there to the influence of the 
Washingtonian movement. Many of the con- 
verts to religion had been rescued from profligate 
lives by the influence of the Washingtonians. 

But that phenomenal uprising in behalf of tem- 
perance was only a clearing of the ground ; the 
plowing and seeding were after labors. It ac- 
complished a mighty work. We can see the 
fruits of the labors of those reformed men all 
about us to-day. 



CHAPTER XI. 

OKGANIZIT^G THE FOECES EOR THE GEEAT CONFLICT. 

The experience gained tlirougli tlie vicissitudes 
of the Washingtonian movement proved to be of 
great value to tlie friends of tlie temperance cause. 
The wonderful successes which had attended that 
movement in its inception, and the relapses and 
partial failure of this association to secure per- 
manent effects, led to a serious and careful ex- 
amination of the whole question of proper organi- 
zation among the friends of the cause. In the 
bitter contests which had taken place between 
the liquor interests and the temperance workers, 
the want of effective organization among the 
latter had on many occasions placed them at a 
disadvantage. The Washington societies were 
ineffective as drilled organizations. The various 
state and county temperance unions and societies 
all over the country, were merely voluntary asso- 
ciations drawn together by common convictions, 
but held together by a feeble tenure that might 
at any time dissolve and leave scarcely a trace of 
their existence. There were not wanting grand 
and able men, but efforts were divided. There 



THE GREAT COTTJ^LICT. 161 

was too mucli individuality in efforts, and alto- 
gether a want of that combined power that carries 
with it the promise of victory. 

Before the close of the year 1840 the Washing- 
tonian movement had spread all over the country, 
and outside of its own particular sphere of effort 
it had provoked discussion and a wide-spread in- 
terest in the ethics and moral and social bearing 
of the temperance question. The consequence 
was a great accession to the working forces of the 
temperance societies. 

But the situation of the temperance advocates 
of that time was much like that of a great army 
of volunteer troops called out for service without 
organization, without officers, and hence in a con- 
dition to be easily overcome by their better 
organized and disciplined foes. There were men 
enough, and zeal enough, and talent and sjenius 
enough in the ranks of the temperance hosts to 
organize and officer an army equal to the task of 
conquering the world. But they were not so or- 
ganized, they were not under discipline. There 
were men able to lead as captains of tens, twenties, 
fifties and hundreds, and men competent to lead 
thousands and tens of thousands. But they did 
not assume to command an army that did not 
recognize their authority to do so, and hence with 
a following that properly organized might pos- 
sess sufficient moral force to overcome the world, 
the temperance cause was nevertheless far from 

being in a position to exert a very great influence 
6 



162 OEGAKlZmO THE FOliCES 

on morals or manners or in the administration of 
the goYernnient. 

The ablest men then engaged actively in pro- 
moting the cause of temperance felt deeply the 
want of a more complete autonomy through 
which to exert their very great power ; for the 
temperance advocates had now become a mighty 
army in numbers. 

It was therefore deemed a wise policy to en- 
courage the formation of organizations, secret or 
open, which should carry with them the sanction 
of authority and embody the elements of per- 
manency. The falling away of so many hun- 
dreds and thousands of the Washingtonians' 
converts strengthened this feeling and set wdse 
planners to work to devise the machinery. 

The first temperance society organized in this 
country — permanent in the sense of being still 
in existence as a beneficiary society — was eff*ected 
in the city of 'New York, September 29, 1842. 

Sometime previous to this date a circular had 
been sent out, signed by John W. 01i\^er, Daniel 
H. Sands, James Bale, Ephraim L. Snow, J. 
MacKellar, Thomas Swenarton and a number of 
other total abstinence advocates of New York, 
inviting a large number of persons known to be 
of like convictions to meet with them on the day 
named above. This circular set forth that the 
object of the meeting was to organize a beneficial 
society based on total abstinence, bearing the 
title of " Sons of Temperance, New York Di- 



FOR THE GREAT COIirrLICT. 163 

vision No. 1." It was proposed to make tlie 
initiation fee at first one dollar, and dues 6 1-4 
cents a week ; in case of sickness a member to 
be entitled to $4 a week ; and in case of death. 
$30 to be appropriated for funeral expenses. 

A constitution was presented at the meeting, 
and after discussion it was adopted as the funda- 
mental law of the new temperance order. The 
organization was completed, and the officers for 
the first division of the Sons of Temperance in 
New York were elected. The first officers of the 
parent organization were the following named 
gentlemen : 

Worthy Patriarcli — Daniel H. Sands. 

Wortliy Associate — Ephraim L. Snow. 

Recording Scribe — John W. Oliver. 

Financial Scribe — James Bale. 

Treasurer — George McKibben. 

Conductor — Thomas Edgerly. 

Inside Sentinel — ^Thomas Swenarton. 
At a meeting of Division No. 1 of the Sons of 
Temperance, held at their lodge room, New 
York, October 1, 1842, an initiation ceremony 
was adopted and the original members were duly 
initiated. At the next meeting, October 14, 
eleven candidates were initiated. The pledge 
which all the members were required to take was 
as follows : 

"I will neither make, buy, sell, nor use as a 
beverage any spirituous or malt liquors, wine or 
cider." 



164 OEGAl^IZIl^a THE FOECES 

It is improbable tliat the organizers of tliis tem- 
perance order liad the most remote idea that it 
was destined to extend so widely and exert an 
influence so powerful. Simple in its organiza- 
tion, and in its ceremonial free from impressive 
ostentation and parade, it yet became popular 
and at once began to assert a power and in- 
fluence as an aggressive temperance organization 
such as had not before been wielded by any 
society. The members of the order were held by 
bonds stronger than had before kept temperance 
workers together. The beneficent character of 
the order assured to the members support in 
times of sickness and distress. 

Within a few years divisions of the Sons of 
Temperance spread in every state in the Ameri- 
can Union and in almost every county in the two 
Canadas and the provinces of New Brunswick 
and Nova Scotia. 

The influence of the Sons of Temperance was 
not confined to the United States or the continent 
of North America. It was in the year 1843 that 
a division of the order was organized in England, 
and from thence organizations extended into 
every county of Great Britain. Some years later 
some earnest advocates of the temperance cause 
in the Colony of Victoria, Australia, applied to 
the Grand Division of New York for a charter 
as authority to introduce the order into that re- 
mote part of the world. The charter was granted 
and a division was organized there. It proved 



FOR THE GREAT CONELICT. 165 

popular among the colonists and in no long time 
numerons divisions were instituted in Australia, 
]^ew Zealand and Tasmania. Later two grand 
divisions were organized, one in Australia and 
the other in 'New Zealand. In less than fifteen 
years divisions of the Sons of Temperance existed 
in the United States, the Dominion of Canada, 
Australia, New Zealand, Tasmania and the Sand- 
wich Islands. In England, Ireland, Scotland and 
Wales the order numbered many thousands. It 
has been estimated that more than four and a 
half millions of persons from first to last have 
been initiated among the Sons of Temperance 
and taken the total abstinence pledge. 

About this time another temperance order, 
destined to exert a large influence, was introduced 
into this country from England. This was the 
" Order of Rechabites." The first tent of this 
organization was constituted in New York, and 
from thence it spread into the neighboring states, 
and eventually they had tents in nearly every 
large city in the country. 

Another event which gave quite an impetus to 
temperance about this time was the lecture de- 
livered by the distinguished Dr. Sewall of Wash- 
ington ''On the Efi"ects of Alcohol on the Human 
Stomach." This lecture he illustrated bv a 
series of charts, showing the normal condition 
of the digestive organs of man when unafl'ected 
by disease caused by the use of alcoholic li- 
quors, and the appearance of the stomach of an 



166 OEGANIZING THE FOECES 

inebriate diseased througli drinking. Tlie higli 
character of Dr. Sewall as a man and liis emi- 
nence as a scientific investigator Ibrought liim an 
audience composed of tlie most distinguished, 
men of tlie nation. Among those who went to 
hear Dr. Sewall was the Hon. Tliomas F. Mar- 
shall, of Kentucky, who had fallen into the very 
sink of degradation through the influence of 
alcoholic drink. This "brilliant man was con- 
vinced, went to his room, emptied his hottles, 
and the next day appeared on the streets of 
Washington perfectly sober. This was an event 
particularly noted by his friends, who had not 
seen him sober for some years. 

In a short time he prepared a lecture, which, for 
brilliance and impassioned eloquence, it has been 
claimed was never equaled. For a time this gift- 
ed man devoted all his matchless powers of ora- 
tory to the cause of temperance. The influence 
he exerted in Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Virginia, 
Maryland and Pennsylvania, during those months 
when he was clothed and in his right mind, it is 
impossible to overstate. Vast throngs greeted 
him wherever he went, and he carried everything 
before him. 'No man could resist his tremendous 
appeals. But unfortunately for the cause and for 
himself, though gifted beyond most men of his 
time, he was weak in the presence of the tempter, 
and fell into his old ways, at last sinking into a 
maniac drunkard's grave. 

Another notable event in the history of the 



EOR THE GEE AT CONFLICT. . 167 

temperance cause liappened in the year 1842. 
This was the conversion of Mr. John B. Gongh, 
the world-renowned temperance lecturer. Mr. 
Gough himself has often repeated the story of his 
degradation and given us a history*of how he was 
reclaimed. It is one of the most thrilling stories 
of a life ever told, but space will not permit us to 
repeat it here. 

It was on Monday evening, the last week in 
October, 1842, when Mr. Gough, still weak from 
his last debauch, attended a temperance meet- 
ing, and with trembling hand affixed his name 
to the total abstinence pledge. It was the 
greatest act performed in the course of a life- 
time crowned with great achievements. The 
manner in which he related his pitiful story on 
that eventful evening at once called attention to 
him, and he was regarded from that time forward 
as one possessed of gifts above the average of 
his fellow-reformers. It was not long until he 
had made himself heard, and he soon entered 
upon that great career which has given him a 
fame wide as the boundaries of the civilized 
world. 

The effects produced by the lectures of Mr. 
Gough were felt in the remotest settlements of 
the United States. He at once assumed a posi- 
tion as the matchless champion of the temper- 
ance cause. Others had perhaps thought more 
deeply on the subject ; others had spoken grand- 
ly and well to warn their fellow creatures of the 



168 0EGAXI2ING THE TORCES 

yawning pitfalls of ruin in tlie drunkard's path ; 
but Mr. Gougli appealed directly to the personal 
experience and self-consciousness of his hearers, 
and the effects produced by his eloquent and 
pathetic appeals were truly wonderful. 

The year 1845 is remarkable in the history of 
the temperance cause for several events which 
have exerted an influence for good extending to 
our own times. During that year another older 
devoted to temperance was established in New 
York. This was the "Order of the Templars of 
Honor and Temperance," This society was 
fruitful in good works and has proved the means 
of rescuing many thousands of men from . the 
fatal career upon which they had entered. 

"The Order of the Good Samaritans" was also 
founded this year, and it has brought light and 
joy into many thousands of homes which, but 
for the instrumentalities employed by it, might 
have remained the dreary abodes of poverty and 
miser}^ The members of this .society, as its 
name imports, were not only bound by the 
pledge of total abstinence, but it was their duty 
to attend to the physical wants and minister to 
the necessities of the poor wounded, bleeding vic- 
tims of intemperance. While this society was 
confined in its operations principally to the 
city of 'New York, it nevertheless accomplished 
great good among the intemperate elements in 
that state. 

During this year the Eastern states were pro- 



FOR THE GREAT CONFLICT. 169 

foundly agitated on tlie subject of the liqnor 
traffic. In New York state so great was tlie 
agitation tliat tlie legislature was called upon to 
take action looking to a suppression of tlie traf- 
fic. A bill was introduced and passed in tlie 
lower branch of the legislature giving to the 
people the legal right to abolish the trade in 
ardent spirits by a popular vote. The senate 
refused to concur in this action unless the city 
of Nevf York was exempted from the operations 
of the law. The house yielded, New York was 
exempted and the people had an opportunity of 
deciding whether the traffic should go on in the 
state outside of the metropolis. An election was 
ordered, and pending it a fierce struggle was 
carried on between the liquor interests and the 
friends of temperance. The day came at last 
for the sovereign people to exercise their rights. 
The ballots were cast, their numbers summed up, 
and it was found that a vast majority of the 
people favored prohibition. In some counties 
the vote was almost unanimous against the li- 
quor interests. 

While this contest was going on in New York 
immense meetings in favor of prohibition were 
held throughout the New England states. The 
interest in this question was wide-spread and 
provoked discussions everywhere. 

In Maine especially, the conflict was fierce and 
protracted. Great meetings were assembled in 
nearly all the large towns, and heated discus- 



170 OEGAIS^IZIIN'G THE FORCES 

sions were had between the liquor-sellers and their 
friends, and the advocates of prohibition. The 
Hon. J^ealDow came prominently upon the stage 
at this time, and with the earnestness and zeal 
which is characteristic of the man, he threw 
himself into the very midst of the battle, and was 
recognized as the leader of the Prohibitionists. 

The result of these efforts was the enactment 
by the legislature of a prohibitory law early in 
the following 3^ear. The joy of the Prohibition- 
ists was excessive, but proved to be premature. 
The law was so full of defects that it was readily 
evaded and the liquor interests were left in a 
more favorable position than they had before 
held. But the temperance leaders were in no 
wise discouraged. They immediately began a 
new agitation for a Jaw that would permit and 
require the seizure and confiscation of liquors 
and the im]3risonment of the sellers. 'Nov did 
the}^ relax their efforts until such a law was 
passed and duly enforced. 

In Connecticut the agitation was not less earn- 
est. The convention of the friends of temper- 
ance at Hartford had recommended a law to sup- 
press the trade in alcoholic liquors. A law was 
passed remanding the question to the people 
for their decision, and the Prohibitionists carried 
a majority of the towns in the state. 

Meanwhile^ the question had entered the 
churches, and a mighty contest arose between the 
theologians in regard to the teachings of the 




HON. MEAL DOW. 



FOR THE GEEAT COTnTFLICT. , 173 

bible concerning temperance. Tlie E,ev. Dr. 
Eliplialet Nott, president of Union college, took 
np the question and brought to bear npon it his 
splendid resources of logic and scliolarship. The 
result was the production of a work, published 
some time afterward, v/liicli, to tliis da}^, remains 
a standard authority on the subject of bible 
temperance. ^ 

In the Southern states, especially in Missis- 
sippi, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina, 
the temperance forces were thoroughly organ- 
ized, and were battling heroically against the 
devastating influence of the inebriating cup. 
'' Tippling shops," as they were called, were al- 
most entirely suppressed in the state , of Tennes- 
see. The penalties inflicted for violations of 
the liquor laws of the state were extremely 
severe. Heavy fines and imprisonment were in- 
flicted for the smallest infractions of the law. In 
Mississippi similar laws were in force. In Georgia 
the laws permitted counties and municix)alides 
to regulate the trafiic in their respective jurisdic- 
tions, and in some cities and counties the sale was 
absolutely prohibited. In South Carolina there 
was a warm contest, and the cause of temperance 
had enlisted some of the most gifted men of the 
commonwealth. Among the^e were Dr. Thorn- 
well, Dr. Basil Manlj', and others scarcely less 
distinguished. The result of the agitation was 
the passage of laws materially restricting the 
trade in ardent spirits. 



174 OEGATTlZi:^G THE FOECES 

In 1846 tlie Cadets of Temperance — an order 
organized to meet the necessities of the 3'ouths 
and boys — was instituted in the state of 
Pennsylvania. Tliis order grew ont of the refusal 
of the Sons of Temperance to permit the initia- 
tion of ]3ersons under the age of eighteen 3'ears 
into that order. It has been an instrument in 
accomplishing much good among the j^oung. 

It was about this time that the temperance re- 
formers divided in sentiment between those who 
advocated legal prohibition and those who re- 
lied exclusively on moral suasion to effect the 
abolition of drunkenness and suppression of the 
liquor traffic. There was no actual hostility be- 
tween these two elements, and the temperance 
forces worked together in all movements, save 
such as required distinct political action. 

The Hon. Neal Dow is justly regarded as the 
organizer and leader of the legalists in the tem- 
perance movement. He first came prominently 
into public notice in 1839 in connection with the 
temperance cause in his native city of Portland. 
Maine. He was, at that time, in the very prime 
of life, having been born in the year 1804. He 
was an earnest man then, and until this day he 
has not abated one jot or tittle in his zeal 
against the traffic in liquors. His doctrine is to 
suppress the cause of drunkenness and there can 
be no drunkards. As a sample of the spirit 
which has animated this courageous Apostle of 
Temperance, we can but repeat his resolute de- 



l^OU THE GREAT COI^ELICT. 175 

claration, when it "became manifest that the first 
Maine laAv of 1846 was a failure. It was asked 
of him, " What shall we do ? Shall we acquiesce 
and cease our efiorts?" "ISTo; by no means," 
replied Mr. Dow, "if this law is a failure, there 
must be a reason for it. We must find out that 
reason, and meet it." Like other prohibitory 
laws, it denounced the wrong ; " but, unlike tJiem, 
it tolerated the instrument of the wrong. A 
parallel to such legislation would have been to 
prohibit lotteries, gambling and forgeries ; and 
respect as lawful the property the lottery ticket, 
the gambler's dice and the forger's die." Hence- 
forth, with that directness and earnestness which 
distinguished him, he proclaimed confiscation of 
the liquor as the practical correlative of the 
jprincii)le of Prohibition, a guaranty without 
which any liquor law must ever prove a dead 
letter. 

The issue was now distinctly made up. The 
legalists, under the leadership of Hon. ISTeal 
Dow, prepared once more to enter into a conflict 
with the liquor-trading interest. For two years 
the contest was waged on the part of the Legalists 
with unusual vigor. The moral suasionists, 
while not fully endorsing this method of advanc- 
ing the interests of temperance, could but choose 
to act with their temperance allies rather than 
with their foes. The Sons of Temperance, the 
Rechabites, the Temperance Unions and societies 
of every name threw the weight of their influence 



176 OEGAKIZING THE FOECEg 

into tlie scale in behalf of the legalists in this 
battle against the demon of drunkenness. So 
skillfully and zealously had the forces led by 
Hon. ]S"eal Dow labored that victory was assured. 
At the election in 1849 the Prohibition ticket was 
carried in Maine by a vote of two to one. 

In May, 1851, the legislature of that state passed 
a law which provided for the sale of alcohol for 
mechanical and medicinal, including also artis- 
tic and chemical, purposes, by an appointed 
district agent, under bonds, and with a fixed 
salary. It did not concern itself with the private 
acts of home brewing or importation. It re- 
garded every man's home as his castle and only 
sought to meddle with the overt act of sale ; it 
confiscated all stores of liquors of which a part 
had been sold, just as revenue officers would now 
seize and confiscate all illicit whisky and destroy 
the distillery in which it was made. The benefi- 
cial effects of this law upon the industrial and 
moral habits of the people of that state cannot 
well be overestimated. 

Having achieved the victory and secured the 
passage of the law, the Hon. NealDow addressed 
himself to the task of seeing that it was duly 
enforced, so far as he could exert an influence in 
that direction. Having been elected Mayor of 
the city of Portland, he caused to be seized and 
confiscated many thousands of dollars' worth of 
liquors. Under the direction of a committee of 
the City Council the Mayor purchased a large 



l^^OR THE GREAT CONFLICT. 177 

amount of alcohol and liquors to be sold by tlie 
agent for the purposes set forth in the act. The 
" rummies," as the liquor-trading elements were 
called, immediatsly circulated a report that the 
Hon. l^eal Dow, having suppressed the business 
of every other person, had himself gone into the 
liquor trade on a large scale, using the city hall 
as a store-house. A warrant was obtained and 
the liquors were seized. The judge before whom 
the case was tried, after having examined into 
the facts, released the liquois and discharged 
the Maj^or, deciding that the course pursued by 
the Mayor was not a violation of Liw, but neces- 
sary in order to carry out the provisions of law. 

Before the courts had time to pass upo*n the 
question presented in this case, however, the 
anti-liquor men had sedulously striven to excite 
the worst elements of the people to violence. 
This event, which occurred in 1855, was the first 
actual collision betwee-n the temperance and 
anti-temperance parties. A mob composed of 
several hundred persons gathered at the City 
Hall in Portland, and made a violent attack upon 
the building, smashed in the windows and bat- 
tered the doors. Mayor Dow, fearing the excited 
crowd would effect an entrance, capture the 
liquor, become intoxicated and commit fearful 
excesses in the city, read the riot act and com- 
manded them to disperse. This they failed to 
do. Some blank cartridges were fired by the 
troops, which being also ineffective the Mayor 



178 OEGAIS-IZITTG THE FOECES. 

ordered ball cartridges and several of the rioters 
were killed and a number more wounded. The 
coroner's jury exonerated the Mayor and city 
authorities from all blame, and justified the re- 
sort to arms to enforce law and order. This was 
the last struggle of the whisky interests to defeat 
the Prohibitionist cause in Maine. 

Before the close of 1849 the temperance men 
of America had made great progress in the work 
of organizing. There were now a number of 
distinct orders compactly bound and working for 
the promotion of the cause. All these societies 
were struggling to accomplish a common object, 
and while distinct in social action there was a 
unity of principle which animated them all alike. 



CHAPTEE Xn. 

GLORIOUS MISSIO]^ OF FATHER MATHEW. 

The "temperance reformation in tliis country 
received a new imx)etus in 1849 by the visit of the 
distinguished Irish apostle of temperance, Father 
Mathew. For ten years he had Ibeen laboring 
with a zeal that knew no weariness in the good 
cause in his native land. His efforts were suc- 
cessful beyond all precedent. His noble catholic 
spirit had won for him the good opinions and 
genuine affection of all classes and of every creed. 
His fame had preceded him across the Atlantic. 
His astonishing successes in the glorious cause, 
and the reports of them which had reached the 
shores of America had been for some years ex- 
erting a silent, though powerful, influence in favor 
of temperance in this country. 

It has been claimed that the Roman Catholic 
church has through all ages inculcated the doc- 
trine of temperance through the confessional. It 
is not our province to inquire into the grounds of 
this claim. We know, as a historical fact, that 
intemperance was fearfully prevalent among the 
Catholic population of Ireland, and for that mattei? 



180 GLORIOUS MISSION 

among Protestants also, previous to the com- 
mencement of the great temperance mission of the 
devoted priest, Father Mathew. He it was who 
erected the standard of total abstinence outside 
the precincts of the confessional, and urged men 
everywhere and under all circumstances to avoid 
the inebriating cup. He it was who called upon 
his fellow Catholics to become sober men and 
women, not only when they approached the sanc- 
tuary, but in their daily lives at home and abroad. 
It would be impossible to give anything like an 
account of the abundant labors of this noble 
Christian champion of temperance. He accom- 
plished a work which it is improbable any other 
man could have accomplished. 

When he commenced his labors about 1838, the 
condition of the masses of his countrymen was 
deplorable in the extreme. That unfortunate 
race had suffered through misrule in government 
for centuries, and their social condition had grown 
worse as a consequence of political oppression 
and official corruption. Indeed, it is not possible 
to describe the utter helplessness and misery of 
vast multitudes of the Irish people. Their suffer- 
ings had excited the sympathy and commiseration 
of the whole civilized world. 

Drunkenness was one of the vices to which 
the people were addicted to a fearful degree. It 
matters not whether the tales of woe that excited 
all the benevolent feelings of his soul came to 
Father Mathew in the privacy of the confes- 



0]e' I^ATHER MATHEW. 181 

sional, or whether he had gained a knowledge of 
the source of a large part of the misery which 
afflicted his unhappy countrymen by observation; 
it is certain that he had a knowledge of the evil 
effects of intemperance which stirred the very 
depths of his sympathetic heart. It may be said 
that Father Matliew was an enthusiast. Would 
that there were more such enthusiasts in the 
world ! He was a great and noble philanthropist. 
His memory is enshrined in the affections of 
thousands of liis fellow- mortals, without distinc- 
tion of nationality or of sect. Such a man be- 
longed not to the circumscribed limits of an island 
or a continent, nor could his broad and self- 
sacrificing spirit be claimed as the offspring of a 
particular creed. A devoted E-oman Catholic all 
through life, he undoubtedly was ; a devout 
priest and a true Christian, he went forth as a 
preacher of redemption to the drunkard ; he 
cared not what belief he might profess. He had 
studied the curse ; he had seen its effects. He 
saw drunkenness in its folly, its revels, its ob- 
scenity, its beastliness, stagger across his vision; 
he saw Poverty, clot^Ted with the rags of inno- 
cence or the filth of vice, as it filed past him in 
endless procession; he saw Ignorance, blind and 
wretched, attended by her sad and hopeless 
brood, groping on to the impenetrable darkness 
beyond ; he saw Prostitution flaunting its robes 
of guilt, with heart on-fire-of hell, hurrying 
shrieking and mocking onward to the deep 



182 GLORIOUS MISSIOl^ 

dark stream "beneath "the "bridge of sighs ;" be- 
fore him Disease withdrew its curtain, and he 
saw its lazar victims stretched on their " bed ab- 
horred;" he saAV Idiocy, with lack-lustre eyes, 
and heard the incoherent gibberish of a stupid 
wretch ; he saw Insanity, with " moping melan- 
choly" and raving madness, come up and vanish 
again ; he saw Brutal Lust liercely glaring 
upon outraged chastity, stalking by him ; and 
then, at last, he beheld Crime, appareled in gar- 
ments gory with the life-currents of ^dctims, as it 
swept rapidly down to perdition ! And he in- 
quired why do all these phantoms of sorrow ap- 
pear before us ? The .answer came naturally : 
They are tJie hrood of the demon of strong drinTc, 
And the sj'^mpathetic heart of the good priest 
was kindled within him, he took up the armor of 
a temperance knight, and with the faith of a 
martyr animating him, went forth to attack the 
monster. 

It has been said that Father Mathew was 
mighty as an agitator, but weak as an organizer. 
So Christ was the one incomparable teacher of 
the world, and jeX He Him-self organized no 
church. He laid down the doctrines, the eternal 
truths of Grod, and left the work of organiza^tion 
to others- But Father Mathew was an organizer, 
and there are at least two Roman Catholic total 
abstinence societies in this country which were 
organized by the reformer himself during his 
visit to America. 



OF I^ATHER MATilEW. 183 

Father Mathew landed in ISlew York June 29tli, 
1849. A few days after his arrival he commenced 
his mission among his countrymen. Immediately 
he was surrounded by crowds. Hundreds came 
forward at every meeting and eagerly signed the 
pledge. The most distinguished Americans vied 
with each other in doing honor to this unselhsh 
and zea:lous worker in a noble cause. He seemed 
to forget all differences of faith and creed in his 
labor of love. An anecdote is related of him 
which shows the amiability of his character. 

On one occasion, while the Father was ad- 
dressing a promiscuous crowd, the endeavor to 
get nearer to the speaker caused a gradual pres- 
sure upon those who occupied places near him. 
There was one man who occupied a place in the 
front rank who had been pushed along until he 
was so near the good priest that he placed his 
hand on the head of the auditor in blessing; 
when some one cried out : "Och, Father, an' did ye 
know that ye're blissing a rank Orangeman ? " 
"I care not," exclaimed the enthusiastic priest, 
" if he were a lemon man, if he will only sign 
the pledge and keep it." 

In New York thousands of his countr3mien 
took the pledge. After accomplishing a great 
work in that city he started on a tour through 
the country, stopping at every important town 
and lecturing to the people. His tact and amia- 
bility, his fervor and earnest eloquence attracted 
immense audiences, and thousands upon thous- 



184 GLOEIOUS MISSION 

ands of all classes, creeds and nationalities took 
the pledge at liis liands. 

In Philadelphia especially was he greeted with 
an enthnsiasm such as was but seldom evoked. 
His progress was a complete ovation. He went 
to Washingt' )n, where he received distinguished 
marks of consideration from the most eminent 
men in the nation. He was invited to a seat 
within the bar of the House, and addresses of 
welcome were made by some of the leading 
statesmen of that time. 

General Lewis Cass on that occasion com- 
mended the mission on which Father Mathew 
came to this country, and paid the following 
comxpliment to him : 

" This is but a complimentary notice to a dis- 
tinguished man just arrived among us, and well 
does he merit it. He is a stranger to us person- 
nally, but he has won a world-wide renown. He 
comes among us upon a mission of benevolence, 
not unlike Howard, whose name and deeds rank 
high in tne annals of philanthropy, and who 
sought to carry hope and comfort into the dark- 
est cells, and to alleviate the moral and physical 
condition of their unhappy tenants. He comes 
to break the bonds of the captive and to set the 
prisoner free ; to redeem the lost ; to confirm the 
wavering and to aid in saving all from the dangers 
and temptations of intemperance. It is a noble 

mission, and nobly is he fulfilling it." 
Father Mathew was a "Gospel Temperance" 



OF FATHEE MATHEW. 185 

advocate. In one of Ms addresses lie made use 
of the following emphatic language : 

I tell you there is nothing but divine power — 
the grace of religion — in connection with total 
abstinence, that can bring up the fallen who 
have sunk into the lowest level of degradation, 
to the true dignity of virtuous manhood. God's 
grace is sufficient to pluck brands even from the 
verge of hell. The infidel once degraded must 
forever remain degraded. If he be recovered it 
must be after repentance. The man who has 
faith in God and in Christ, though he may not 
know the direct and true way of access to the 
fountain of all graces, may yet be saved from 
the cruel fate of the drunkard. Mind you, I now 
speak only of those who have lost all sense 
of propriety, all notions of decency, and all 
power to will, through drunkenness. It requires 
the most powerful considerations that can be 
brought to bear on a man's heart and conscience, 
to make him turn backward when he has once 
reached the foot of the hill. To climb up again 
requires almost superhuman exertions. The 
drunkard has got down, and he feels now that 
he would rather keep on sliding, down, down ! 
until he drops at last into the bottomless pit. It 
is so much easier to go with the current of his 
passions. So the miserable one without the 
graces of religion continues to take his drinks, 
and without a guide to pilot him he continues on 
and is lost. He would receive none of the coun- 
sel of the Eternal Help. 

I tell you, I once Imew a young man who 
would awake in the midst of the night from the 
troubled dreams of the drunkard, after days and 
nights of reveling, and exclaim, "I wish I were 



186 GLORIOUS MISSIOIT 

"blotted ont." That 3^ouiig man had lost all wiU 
power. He had become a drunken sot. He had 
no ability to help himself then. He had gone 
too far. He was always drnnk. He had no 
faith in himself, for he had tried to reform; but 
the power of his appetite for drink was irresisti- 
ble and he drank the more. He had no faith in 
Gpd, and reason was too much clouded for his 
spirit to seek for the Divine Light, and so in his 
extreme aaoDT he desired to be altogether blot- 
ted out — extinguished like a candle. A poor 
soul lost ! And mind that you are not lost ! Stop 
your drinks now I You may suffer misery in the 
world to come ! Drink no more, while reason is 
yet with you. If you get to the foot of the hill 
you may never feel that you have the strength 
to climb up again, but go on down to the agonies 
that await the wilfully contumacious. 

Father Matliew visited all the chief centers of 
population in the country. Everywhere he was 
hailed as a benefactor of the people. Societies 
bearing his name were organized everywhere, 
and the impetus given to the cause of temper- 
ance by his visit has not ceased to this day. 

Before the visit of Father Mathew, the Roman 
Catholic Irish citizens had been practically in- 
accessible to such agencies as had been employed 
to promote temperance in this country. It is 
true that not all of his count] y men were converted 
to sobriety by his labors among them. But his 
visit and burning appeals called the attention of 
his co-religionists to the frightful ravages of in- 
temperance among the masses, and were the 
means of arousing the priesthood and earnest 



OP FATHEE MATHEW. ' 187 

laymen to tlie necessity of concerting measures 
to promote temperance. 

From tlie time he arrived in this country, 
about the middle of the year 1849, until Novem- 
Iber of the following year, the labors of this good 
man were incessant and arduous. Before his 
coming, drunkenness had been the general rule 
in this our country. Now, all this was changed. 
•For a time, at least, drunkenness was an excep- 
tion to the general deportment of the Irish- 
American citizens. 

The beneficent effects of the popular agitation 
of the total abstinence question by Father 
Mathew are still visible. The Father Mathew 
Total Abstinence Societies originated at that 
time, are still perpetuated, and accomplish great 
good. 

Out of these organizations grew the Roman 
Catholic Total Abstinence Union, an organization 
effected at Baltimore in the year 1872. This 
national temperance society has proved to be one 
of the most compactly organized temperance 
bodies in the country, and is a powerful ally in 
the general work of the temperance interests. 
The zeal of the Passionist Fathers, the Jesuits, 
and the Paulist Fathers has been kindled, and 
now there are hundreds of devoted temperance 
advocates to be found among the priests of the 
Roman Catholic church in this country. 

In ISI ovember, 1850, Father Mathew sailed from 
ISTew York for Ireland. On landing he proceeded 



188 GLOEious Missio:fr 

to his native place. But tlie dsiys of his warfare 
were ended. He had fought the good fight, he had 
kept the true temperance faith ; he had brought 
thousands into the temple of sobriety ; he had 
carried light and hope and joy into a vast num- 
ber of wretched homes. His labors had been too 
much for his strength. He was stricken down, 
and on the eighth of December, 1850, this great 
and good man entered into his rest. The an-- 
nouncement of his death created profound sor- 
row among the people of both Great Britain and 
America. 

Father Mathew was a moral suasionist. He 
did not think legal enactments could make 
drunkards sober men, if they wilfully resolved to 
drink. His followers were never connected with 
the prohibition movement. He labored first to 
make men sober, and then he felt assured that 
there would be little need of law to make them 
continue in fhat condition. The first Catholic 
bishop to give encouragement to the temperance 
movement was the late' Most Rev. James Roose- 
velt Bayle3^, at that time Bishop of JN'ew Jersey. 
It was a cold stormy night in November. The 
Roman Catholic Total Abstinence Union of his 
diocese resolved to parade in a grand torchlight 
procession. The Bishop was appealed to to re- 
view the procession. A thousand brawny men 
turned out bearing torches. The Bishoj) stood on 
the steps of the pastoral residence and addressed 
the great throng. The sight of so many strong 




FATHER MATHEW. 



OF FATHER MATHEW. 191 

men going out as soldiers in sucli a cause stirred 
the heart of the Bishop, and he made a noble out- 
and-out temperance speech. It was reported. 
The New York Herald published it ; the Roman 
Catholic Total Abstinence Publication Society 
published it as their first tract, and one hundred 
thousand copies were circulated. 

Like all movements of popular character, such 
as Father Mathew headed, after his departure 
and the excitemen t had somewhat subsided, there 
were many lapses. In ten years,perhaps more than 
seven-tenths of those who had taken the medals 
of the fervid temperance advocate, liad turned 
back and fallen into their old habits. But 
thousands had remained firm and were perma- 
nently rescued from the deadly fascination of the 
tempting bowl. This dead-lock in the temperance 
cause was eventually broken by the organization 
of total abstinence societies connected with the 
various city parishes. The Paulists, Passionists 
and Jesuits took up the cause and greatly aided 
in the progress of temperance sentiments among 
the people to whom they ministered. 

The Roman Catholic Total Abstinence Union 
has organized a Publication Sot-iety, and have 
printed numerous books and tracts, and, some 
time ago, undertook the publication of a journal 
to be the organ of the Union. This publication 
is called the Total Abstinence Union. It Avas at 
first a monthly, but has been changed to a semi- 
monthly. 



192 GLOEIOUS MISSIOl^. 

In the societies represented "by the Union there 
are nearly one hundred and sixty thousand 
members. There are, perhaps, other Roman 
Catholic Total Abstinence societies, and it has 
been estimated that there are no less than two 
hundred and twenty thousand members of the 
Catholic church in this country who are pledged 
to total abstinence from intoxicating liquors. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

MEDICAL SCIETiTCE FAVORS TEMPERANCE. 

A POISON has "been defined to be " A substance, 
which brought into contact with the skin, mucous 
surfaces, nerves, blood cells, on other organs of 
man, alters their normal state by virtue of some 
special inherent quality." Such a disturbance 
means, first, some degree of altered structure, 
temporary or permanent, and second, a consequent 
altered function, which may be an increased or a 
lowered action. Hence poisons are unusually 
classed under three^eneral heads, '^as first, irritant 
or acrid poisons, which inflame and tend to des- 
troy the living tissue ; second, narcotics or seda- 
tives which lessen the action of the nerves, and if 
taken in suflicient quantity, destroy action and 
feeling ; third, narcotico-acrids, which possess 
the double action of both classes, according to 
the dose or concentration. To the last class be- 
long deadly night shade, tobacco, strychnine and 
alcoliol?'' All toxicologists are agreed on the 
classification given above. Here we find at the 
very beginning of our inquiry into this branch of 



194 MEDICAL SCIE]S-CE 

the subject, that alcoliol, the exhilarating and 
stimulating element in brandy, whisky, wine and 
beer, is classed as a poison of the same character 
as the fatal belladonna or strychnine, and tobacco. 
"We will not trust implicitly the examinations 
and observations made by any one not an adept 
concerning the smallest and most unimportant 
matters in the ordinary concerns of life. If we 
wish to purchase a horse and distrust our own 
judgment as to the value of the animal, we 
consult the experience of an expert. So in every- 
thing else. JS'ow^, what is the testimony of men of 
science concerning the effects of alcohol ? Surely 
the careful and critical examination of the effects 
of alcohol on the human svstem by eminent 
pathologists and physiologists ought to have 
weight with every man who values his mental" 
faculties or physical strength. 

It is necessary to give " line upon line and pre- 
cept upon precept " in order to convince. It does 
seem that intelligent minds, onte convinced that 
to pursue a given course of action would lead to . 
ruin, would turn about and change their ways. 
To that class is presented the testimony of men 
eminent in the world for their extensive informa- 
tion and devotion to the cause of science. We 
now proceed to summon as witnesses some dis- 
tinguished physicians and scientists : 

When spiritous liquors are introduced into the 
stomach they tend to coagulate in the hrst instance 
all albuminous articles of food or lluid with which 



I^AVORS TEMPERANCE. 195 

they come in contact; as an irritant they stimu- 
late the glandular secretions from the mucous 
membrane, and ultimately lead to 'permanent 
congestion of the xessels and to thicltening of the 
gastric tissues. In these effects it is impossible 
not to recognize the operation of an agent most 
pernicious in its ultimate results. The coagula- 
tion is very different from that effected by the 
gastric fluids, and tends to render the articles 
more difficult of solution by the gastric juice. — 
Dr. Aitken ; Prac. Med. 

Even diluted in the form of beer or wine, it is. 
found to act injuriously on the delicate mem- 
branes of the stomach and other digestive organs. 
When taken in large quantities in any of the 
above forms, it acts most injuriously on the 
stomach, liver, brain, heart and other organs of 
the body. It is found to destroy the quality of 
the blood, to congest the membranes of the 
brain, to produce incurable affections of the liver 
and kidneys, and to effect changes in the muscu- 
lar structure of the heart, the result of all of 
which are painful and lingering diseases, or sud- 
den death. So destructive is this agent on the 
whole body, thnt large numbers of persons avoid 
its use altogether, and thus have successfully 
demonstrated that the use of this agent is not 
necessary to health. — Br. Lankester^ F. R. S. 

To the above testimony of two eminent scien- 
tific men of England may be added the declara- 
tion of an equally famous German : 

Alcohol stimulates the vesicles to an increased 
and unnatural contraction, which deprives them 
of coloring matter, and hurries them on to the 
last stage of development; that is, induces their 
premature death, — not suddenly, but gradually, 



196 MEDICAL SCIE]S"C£ 



^ 



and more or less according to tlie quantity of 
alcohol used. The pale vesicles lose all vital 
resistance, less oxygen being absorbed and less 
carbon being carried out ; and the "plasma itself 
becomes an irritant to the circulatory and secre- 
ting organs. — Prof. ScliuUz of Berlin. 

Another German scientist, whose fame is 

v^orld-wide, has examined the effects of beer on 

the physical system and recorded the results of 

his observations: 

As a result of the habitual use of beer as a 
beverage, we note a decrease of water — the vehi- 
cle of vitality, — and an increase of fibrin and 
colored clot which redden much less rapidly on 
exposure to the air than normal blood, and con- 
tains many more of the pale blood-discs than 
is usual in persons in perfect health, which may 
be regarded as defunct bodies no longer capable 
of their original duty — that of absorbing oxy- 
gen. — Prof. Yirchoio. 

These utterances of men who have made a pro- 
found study of the human organism and the 
effect of substances upon the physical and men- 
tal constitution, it seems ought to be conclusive. 
But we have more testimony equally strong and 
direct. That alcohol is a poison to the system 
seem now to be almost a conceded fact among 
the most eminent toxicologists. 

We shall next hear the testimony of a man 
whose fame has extended over Europe and 
America : 

Alcoholized blood contains, during life and 
after death, a great number of free fatty globules, 



FAVORS TEMPERANCE. 197 

visible even bj the naked eye. The pathological 
alterations are : Yery vivid inllamniation of the 
mncous membrane of the stomach ; accumula- 
tion of blood in the right chamber of tlie heart 
and the large veins ; congestion of the mem- 
branes {meninges) covering tlie brain ; and espe- 
cially of the lungs. — Prof. LallemanWs Conclu- 
sions. 

Of a similar nature is the discovery of Prof. 
Lecan, who found in a drunkard's blood as much 
as one hundred and seventeen parts of fat in one 
thousand parts of the blood ; the highest healthy 
proportion being eight and one-fourth parts in 
blood in a healthy condition. The usual average 
in healthy conditions is only three parts in a 
thousand 1 It is evident then that alcohol pro- 
duces fatty degeneration in the blood. Boecker 
argues that partially effete matter is kept in the 
blood in consequence of the use of alcohol even 
in its mildest form. His experiments with 
Rhenish wine had the effect of largely lessening 
the amount of carbonic acid breathed out, and 
stopping the excretion of earthy phosphates, 
thus retaining ashes in the living house and 
stopping ventilation. 

That alcohol is a virulent poison, seems to be 
a well established fact in medical science. In- 
deed, those habitually accustomed to its use are 
under the necessity of taking it in the diluted 
form of ardent spirits. A spoonful of brandy has 
been known to kiJl a child, and half a pint has de- 
stroyed the life of a strong man unaccustomed to 



198 MEDICAL SCIEKCI! 

its use. In sucli caseSjinedical writers assert it pro- 
duces death by nervous shock, not very dissim- 
ilar to that of a blow on some susceptible center, 
like the ganglionic nerves of the stomach. Oes- 
terlin {Handhuch der Heilmittellelire) records the 
case of a child a year and a half old,who had two 
tablespoonfuls of brandy given it to soothe it. 
Bloody -flux, convulsions, lock-jaw and death 
in nine hours followed. Koesch {Henlce^s Zeit- 
scliri/t) gives a case where two tablespoonfuls of 
brandy, taken at sips, proved fatal to a healthy 
girl of four years, in spite of medical aid. There 
is abundant evidence that the human system does 
not require alcohol in any form. 

Alcohol is really the most ungenerous diet there 
is. It impoverishes the blood, and there is no 
surer road to that degeneration of muscular fibre 
so ranch to he feared. Three-quarters of the 
chronic illnesses Avhich the medical man has to 
treat are occasioned by this disease ! In heart 
diseases it is especially hartful by quickening 
the beat, causing capillary congestion, and irreg- 
ular circulation, and thus mechanically induced 
dilatation of the cavities. — Dr. King Chambers, 
of England. 

Wine is quite superfluous toman. Its use is 
constantly /oZZowjeS by the expenditure of power. 

^ H: % These drinks promote the change of 
matter in the body, and are consequently at- 
tended by an inward loss of power ^ which ceases 
to be productive because it is not employed in 
overcoming outward difficulties — that is in work- 
ing. — Baron Liebig ; '' Letters. ^^ 



FAVOKS TEMPERANCE. 199 

In regard to tlie medical use of alcohol, we have 
some authorities whose fame gives them a wide 
influence and whose scientific acquirements enti- 
tle them to a respectful consideration. 

I have seen so many cases of persons, especially 
ladies, who have entirely given themselves up to 
the pleasures of brandy drinking, become pardy 
paralyzed. From what we hear of our continen- 
tal neighbors, that diabolical compound styled 
ahsintlie is productive of exhaustion of nervous 
power in even a much more marked degree. It 
would seem that the volatile oils dissolved in the 
alcohol give an additional force to its poisonous 
effects. — Dr. 8. Wilkes, Physician to Guy^s Hos- 
pital, London. 

When once the fact is admitted that the first 
thing in many diseases is to furnish a copious 
supply of oxygen to the blood, which has been 
loaded with imperfectly decomposed substances, 
and to remove, as quickly as possible, the carbonic 
acid which has accumulated in it, these observa- 
tions will have afforded us true remedial agencies 
which exceed almost every other in the certainty 
of their action. We should forhld tlie use of 
spirituous dHnks and not even prescribe tinctures 
which hinder the necessary excretion of carbonic 
acid. — ProfessorLehmann, Physiological Chem- 
istry, Vol. Ill, on Respiration. 

Upon this statement of Prof. Lehmann,an em- 
inent English writer thus comments : 

Public writers are always insisting upon the 
need of pure air and sanitary regulations, who 
yet fail to see the important fact tliat the use of 
alcoholics violates both conditions. Excess of car- 
bonic acid is the most discernible injury inflicted 



200 MEDICAL SCIENCE 

"by communities upon open air — an injury reveng- 
ed with fatal force upon tlie aggressors. In dif- 
ferent air, taken from different parts of tlie same 
town, the amount may very as from 9 to 29, and 
in this latter district the deaths rose to 4 1 2 per 
100 of the population. It is remarkable that this 
is exactly the ratio of mortality amongst our 
drinkers themselves, while it is only 1 per 100 
amongst abstainers, who cannot and will not live 
in the bad districts. Much of the consumption 
and scrofula of town populations is doubtless due 
to an atmosphere oi^erdiasged witli carhoiiic acid. 
— Dr. F. B. Lees^ of EdinburgJi. 

We present the testimony which an American, 
a man not only eminent in the medical profession, 
but widely known as a philanthropist and a de- 
voted student of the sciences akin to his profes- 
sion who has had unusually good opportunities to 
study the effects of alcohol from his long connec- 
tion with the New York State Inebriate Asylum, 
has given : 

There an3 men who have an organization which 
ma}^ be termed an alcoholic indiosyncrasy ; with 
them the latent desire for stimulants, if indulged, 
soon leads to Iiabits of intemperance, and event- 
ually to a morbid appetite, which has all the 
characteristics of a diseased condition of the 
system, which the patient, unassisted, is power- 
less to relieve — since the weakness of the will 
that led to the disease obstructs its removal. 
Again, we find another class of persons, those 
who have had healthy parents and have been 
educated and accustomed to good influences, 
moral and social, but whose temperament and 
physical constitution are such that, when they 



TAVOES TEMPEEANCE. 201 

once indulge in the use of stimulants which, they 
find pleasurable, they continue to habitually 
indulge till they cease to be moderate and be- 
come excessive drinkers. A depraved appetite 
is established that leads them on slowly but 
surely to destruction. — Dr. A. G. Dodge ; Ohser- 
xations on the Pathology of Inehriation. 

For more than thirty years I have abandoned 
the use of all kinds of alcoholic drinks in my 
practice, and with such good results that were I 
sick, notliing would induce rne to have recourse 
to them — they are but noxious depressants. — Dr. 
Collenette, of Guernsey. 

A distinguished surgeon and physician, who 
has been regarded as an advocate of the use of 
alcoholic stimulants in medical practice, is com- 
pelled to adm.it that 

Alcohol retards the destruction of the tissues. 
By this destruction force is sjenerated, muscles 
contract, thoughts are developed, organs secrete 
and excrete. — Dr. W. A. Hammond ; Tribune 
Lectures. 

Then alcohol interferes with the functional offi- 
ces of the metamorphoses of the tissues and the 
evolution of force and ihought. Another physi- 
cian more eminent even than Dr. Hammond, de- 
clares : 

Stimulants do not create nervous power ; they 
merely enable you, as it were, to 'iise up that 
which is left, and then they leave 3" on more in 
need of rest than before. — Sir Benjamm Brodie^ 
M. D., F. E. S., etc. 

Careful observation leaves little doubt that a 
moderate dose of beer or wine would, in most 



202 MEDICAL SCIENCE 

cases, at once diminisli the maxinmm weight 
which a healthy person conld lilt. Mental acute- 
ness, accuracy of perception and delicacy of the 
senses, are all so far opposed by alcohol, as that 
the maximnm efforts of each are incompatible 
with the ingestion of any moderate quantity of 
fermented liquid. A single glass will often suffice 
to take the edge off both body and mind, and 
reduce their capacity to something below their 
perfection of work. — Br. W. Brinton^ Bliyslcian 
to Si. TJiomas' Hospital; Bietetics^ %). 6^1. 

The more frequently alcohol is had recourse to 
for the purpose of overcoming feelings of debility, 
the more it will be required, and by constant 
repetition a period is at length reached when it 
cannot be foregone, unless reaction is simultane- 
ously brought about by a temporary total change 
of the habits of life. Owing to the above facts, 
I conclude that the dail}' use of- stimulants is 
indefensible under any known circumstances. — 
Bt. F. B. Bees^ of BdinhurgJi ; stimulating 
Brinks^ p. 73. 

One more witness is summoned from the hun- 
dreds whose testimony might be adduced. It is 
the latest utterance from one of the most emi- 
nent physicians now in practice. Recently, a 
committee of the House of Lords, Englpaid, were 
engaged in investigating the effects of alcoholic 
drinking on the sanitary condition of the Eng- 
lish people. This committee summoned before 
them as an expert. Sir William Gull, physician 
to. her majesty, Queen Yictoria. Sir William is 
a court physician — one of the most sought for 
and fashionable physicians of the day in Eng- 



i:avoes tempebance. 203 

land. As will be seen from his testimony given 
November IStli, 1877, and reported in the Eng- 
lish nevv^spapers, he takes the sweeping ground 
that alcohol is no more nor less than a poison. 
Sir William evidently did not classify alcohol 
among foods ; for, after stating that in his 
opinion small doses of it might be beneficially 
used (as a medicine) in certain cases of extreme 
fatigue and exhaustion, he emphatically adds, 
"I very much doubt whether there are not some 
sorts' of food which might very well be taken in 
its place." Pressed as to what kind of food he 
considered most desirable in such circumstances, 
he said that when he was fatigued with over- 
work he ate raisins instead of drinking wine ; 
and, notwithstanding the ridicule by which a 
presumptous and youthful medical apologist for 
alcohol had attempted to discredit the prescrip- 
tion, confessed that this had been his personal 
remedy for exhaustion more than thirty years. 
Sir William distinctly gave it as his deliberate 
opinion that, instead of flying to alcohol when 
they are exhausted, people might very well drink 
water or take food, and would be very much bet- 
ter without the alcohol. Sir William was very 
decided on the danger to intellectual workers in 
resorting to wine or alcohol, declaring that all 
things of an alcoholic nature injured the nerve 
tissue for the time, if not altogether, quickening 
but not improving the operations — the constant 
use of alcohol, even in moderate measures, 



204 MEDICAL SCIENCE 

injured the nerve tissues and was deleterious to 
health. "One of the commonest things in our 
society," he said, "is that people are injured loy 
drink without being drunkards. It goes on so 
quietly that it is difficult even to observe." Again, 
"there is a great deal of injury done to health 
by the habitual use of wines in their various 
kinds, and alcohol in its various shapes, even in 
so called moderate quantities. This applies to 
people who are not in the least intemperate, and 
who are supposed to be fairly well." Sir Wil- 
liam candidly admitted that he did not know how 
alcohol acted on the bodj^, and — though some 
physiologists clamor loudly that they know all 
about it, and that alcohol is burnt as a hvdro- 
carbon, and is therefore a food — he was un- 
doubtedly in the right. But, though Sir Wil- 
liam so honestly admitted that the precise be- 
havior of alcohol in the system is as yet un- 
known, he had seen enough, as all intelligent 
practitioners have, of its eiiects on the body and 
mind to warrant him in saying, "I know that it 
is a most deleterious poison." When asked if he 
meant in excess, he answered promptly in the 
negative, and boldly announced his belief that 
"a very large number of people in society are 
dying day by day, poisoned by alcohol, but not 
supposed to be poisoned by it." When pressed 
by Lord Hartismere as to whether it was safe to 
leave off the use of alcohol at once, Sir William 
fairly laughed at the very idea of danger in these 



FAVORS TEMPERAl^CE. 205 

remarkable words : "If you are taking poison 
into the blood, I do not see the advantage of 
diminishing the degrees of it from day to day. 
That point has been frequently put to me by 
medical men, but my reply has been : If your 
patient were poisoned by arsenic, would you 
still go on putting in the arsenic ?" Sir William 
was quite as emphatic on the absurdity of sup- 
posing that the injurious influence of impure 
water could be lessened by admixture with alco- 
hol. He confessed that, though alcohol is an 
antiseptic, he would be very cautious about 
using it as an antiseptic in drink. He would 
rather abstain from drinking the water. Even 
on the delicate question of the medical adminis- 
tration of alcoholic liquors Sir William was very 
advanced in his views. It had constantly been 
his practice to treat fever without alcohol, and 
he was quite satisfied that in the rare cases 
where alcohol might be of benefit as a medical 
agent, it will not cure the disease, which runs its 
course irrespective of the alcohol. In fact, he 
held that alcohol, in such cases, acted as a seda- 
tive or a narcotic, deadening the feelings of the 
patient and rendering him more indifierent 
to the morbid process. Such were the main 
points in this remarkable evidence. The wit- 
ness is above suspicion on the score of enthu- 
siasm, fanaticism, or bigotry. He has had 
enormous experience in tlie treatment of dis- 
ease, and his professional skill is as highly 



206 MEDICAL SCIENCE 

esteemed "by the nation as it is appreciated "by the 
court. 

Dr. W. B. Carpenter, F. E. S., and late presi- 
dent of the British Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science, who is acknowledged as at the 
very head of the profession as a master of the 
science of phj'siology, condemns the nse of al- 
coholic liquors, and proves that there is neither 
aliment nor medical j)r.operties in such liquors, 
and their use is positively injurious. 

More recently Dr. Comings, of i^ew Britain, 
Connecticut, claims that liquor- drinking estab- 
lishes upon the mucous lining or " coats" of the 
stomach an inflamed condition, in evil looking 
red patches, which are visible after the patient 
dies and his body has been subjected to a 
post-mortem dissection. The men who have 
''periodical drunks," the doctor argues, are 
drawn to alcoholic drinks about such a time, 
whatever the time may be, because the condition 
of their stomachs, in healing under nature's 
efforts, periodically reaches a certain stage that 
calls imperatively for more rum. He illustrates 
this by a case which occurred in 'New Britain. 
One of those common cases of a man who had 
periodical " spells" of going " on a spree" was 
taken hold of on trial. He would remain sdber 
every time for sixty days. Dr. C. offered the 
man twenty -five dollars if he would keep sober 
once for sixty-five days. Oh, yes ; he could do 
that — and he would.- He tried it — tried it hard ; 



f AVOIDS TEMPERANCE. 201 

and lie succeeded in going sober sixty-tliree 
days. A second offer raised the money to fifty 
dollars. Again a trial — he was sure this time ; 
iDut he only succeeded in going sixty- one days 
this time. Then the offer was raised to seventy- 
five dollars and Old Periodical tried it once more 
— but this time he couldn't go a step beyond his 
regular sixty days. Then he gave it up. 

Thus tha concurrent testimony of a very large 
number of the most eminent medical men in the 
world is to the effect that alcohol is useless as a 
medicine ; that it is not a food, but that it is a 
fatal deadly poison. 



CHAPETR XIY. 

LEGAL OPI]S"IOjS'S IN EEGARB TO THE LIQUOE 

TEAEEIC. 

The legal aspects of the questions raised loj 
tlie temperance agitation were early forced upon 
the attention of courts and law-makers. These 
questions have received the consideration of some 
of the ablest jurists both of America and Eng- 
land. As appears already, soon after the strug- 
gle against the vice of intemperance began, there 
were a number of persons v/ho assumed the posi- 
tion that the cure of the vice could only be effected 
by a removal of the cause. The logical result 
of this assumption was the right of the legisla- 
ture to interfere and prohibit the manufacture 
and sale of ardent spirits. Thus the issue of 
prohibition was thrust upon the countr3^ 

The manufacturers and dealers in liauors con- 

JL 

tended that any such legislation would be un- 
constitutional and void, because they had in- 
vested money in distilleries, breweries, store- 
houses and saloons, and such laws 'vVould deprive 
them of their property without due process of 



a:HE LIQUOR Traffic. 20^ 

law. In other words, they claimed that thejhad 
acquired certain vested rights which could not 
be interfered with. 

To this it was replied that the business in which 
they had engaged was against public policy, and 
a nuisance^ and the temperance advocates quoted 
the well known legal dictum that " there is no 
limitation on the power to declare 'what' shall 
be nuisances, for the good reason that diseases 
and their causes are constantly changing, as 
medical science abundantly proves." It has not 
been questioned that " at common law a person 
who maintains a public nuisance is indictable." 
The law itself defines a public nuisance as some- 
thing " that annoys or injures a community of 
persons, and not merely some particular person." 
The right of communities to protect themselves 
from any invasion which is likely to produce 
pestilence or induce the spread of disease has not 
been questioned. 

Upon this principle of law is based the right of 
municipalities to establish quarantines and abate 
nuisances. And this right is deemed to be above 
the treaty making right of the general govern- 
ment, as shown in the detention of vessels be- 
longing to friendly powers by the quarantine 
regulations of the municipal governments of sea- 
port cities. Boards of Health exercise the power 
to supervise private premises and declare certain 
classes of business conducted by private persons 
on their own premises to be nuisances. Judge 



210 LEGAL OPmiOKS IK EEGAUt) 

Lawrence, in giving an opinion in regard to the 
powers of Boards of Health, declared that he did 
"not see why a noisy machine might not he so 
operated as to he a nuisance at common law." 
Of course the grounds of such an opinion must 
he based on a regard for the comfort and exemp- 
tion from annoyance of residents in proximity 
to the place where such "noisy machine" is oper- 
ated. If it were in a wilderness it could not be 
a nuisance. A principle is thus established 
that anything which hinders the prosperity, inter- 
feres with the peace, or disturbs the comfort of 
a community, is a nuisance. Then, anything 
which induces physical deterioration, or leads 
to demoralization, or causes disease and death, 
is a nuisance, and clearly a subject of legisla- 
tion and inhibition, as tending to injure society. 
The question then depends upon the case the 
advocates of temperance are able to make out. If 
the sale of intoxicating liquors conduces to create 
disease, and pauperize men, then society has a 
right to protection against pestilence and the 
evils of pauperism. To determine the first was 
the province of the teachers and practitioners of 
the science of medicine; to examine and report 
on the last was the duty of teachers of moral and 
social science — the sociologist and the theologian. 
Upon the determination of these prime factors 
in the issue, the jurists had only to apply the 
principles of law, which guarantee society against 
disintegration. 



TO THE LIQUOR TEAPnC. 211 

Does the habitual use of ardent spirits injure 
health ? Does it tend to create poverty ? Has it a 
demoralizing effect? In other words, does the 
use of alcoholic liquors have a hurtful effect on 
the physical system, the mental faculties and the 
moral perception of its devotees ? If so, then 
those who engage in its sale certainly commit a 
nuisance. 

The teachers of morals and religion, which 
lie at the base of all true social science, have given 
almost unanimous testimony that the indulgence 
in ardent spirits demoralizes and degrades those 
addicted to it. The medical profession,having care- 
fully and thoroughly investigated it, have given 
evidence as to its effects on body and brain — 
the physical and the mental powers of man. 
They say it is bad, terribly, fearfully bad. Then 
having these facts, the jurists cannot well refuse 
to apply the law, which is after all only the rules 
under which society regulates the general inter- 
ests, protects itself from degeneration, and seeks 
to perpetuate its existence. This is a fair and 
impartial statement of the legal issues involved 
in the controversy between the liquor-trading in- 
terests and the advocates of prohibition. And 
jurists have all along treated the traffic as a 
subj ect lit for police regulation. No one pretends 
that ijnder the law the liquor- traffic occupies the 
same status as otlier classes of business* 

So long ago a^ 1833, Judge Piatt, an eminent 
jurist of ISTew York, gave it as hiKS opinion that 



212 LEGAL OPIXIOXS I]Sr EEGAED 

*' "Whenever pnblic opinion and tli« moral sense 
of our community shall he so far corrected and 
matured as to regard them in their true light, and 
when the public safety shall he thought to re- 
quire it, dramshops will be indictable at common 
law 2i^ public nuisances^ 

We now proceed to epitomize some decisions 
of tlia highest courts in our country in cases in- 
volving the question of the rights of states and 
municipalities to place the traffic in liquor among 
nuisances that might be abated by enactment. 
In a notable case decided by the Supreme Court 
of the United States, in January, 1847, Chief 
Justice Taney delivered the opinion of the court : 

Although a state is bound to receive and per- 
mit the sale by the importer of any article of 
merchandise which Congress authorizes to be 
imported, it is not bound to furnish a inarliet for 
it, nor to abstain from the passage of any law 
which it may deem necessary or advisable to 
guard the JiealtJi or morals of its citizens, al- 
though such law may discourage importation, or 
diminish the profits of the importer, or lessen 
the revenue of the government. And if any 
state deem the retail and internal traffic in ardent 
spirits injurious to citizens and calculated to 
product %ice or dehaucliery. I see nothing in the 
constitution of the United States to prevent the 
state from regulating and restraining the traffic, 
or from prohibiting it altogether, if it thinks 
proper. — Tliurlow ts. Massachusetts^ 5 Howard'' s 
Reports^ page 673. 

In the case of Pierce vs. Kew Hampshire, the 
Chief Justice delivered the opinion, affirming the 



TO THE LIQTJOK TRAFFIC. 213 

right of the state to regulate or prohibit the sale 
of liquors imported from another state. The 
opinion contains the following language : 

The law of ]^ew Hampshire is a valid law ; for 
although the gin sold was an import from another 
state, Congress has already the power to regulate 
such importations ; yet, as Congress has made no 
regulations on the subject, the traffic in the article 
may be lawfully regulated by the state as soon 
as it is landed in its territory, and a tax imposed 
upon it, or a license required, or tlie sale prohibit- 
ed, according to the policy which the state may 
suppose to be its interest or its duty to pursue. — 
Pierce vs. JVew Hampshire, 6 Howard^s Reports, 
page 67:2. 

Mr. Justice Catron concurred in the opinion, 

and remarked : 

I admit, as inevitable, that if the state has the 
power of restraint by licenses to any extent, she 
has the discretionary power to judge of its limit 
and may go the length of proliihiting it altogeth- 
er. — Ihid. 

In the same case, it was argued that the impor- 
ter purchased the right to sell by the payment of 
duties to the government. To this argument Mr. 
Justice Daniel in his opinion replied : 

No such right as the one supposed is purchased 
by the importer, and no injury, in any accurate 
sense, is inllicted on him by denying to him the 
power demanded. He has not purchased, and 
cannot purchase^ from the Government, that which 
it could not insure to him, — a sale independently 
of the laws and policy of the states. — Ihid. 

Thus it appears that under the laWj the vending 



214 LEGAL OPIJN'IOJS'S IN EEGARD 

of ardent spirits is a proscribed trade. The liigli- 
est judicial audiority known in the government 
has declared that there is no constitutional limita- 
tion to the right of the people of the several states, 
and municipalities within the states, — if author- 
ized to do so by the competent legislative authori- 
ty — may altogether abolish the traffic in their res- 
pective jurisdictions. "We present three other 
opinions, two from the Supreme j udicial tribunal 
of two of the states of the West, the third one 
from the Supreme Court of the United States, all 
bearing directly on the same subject: ■ 

From an early period in civilization and in 
all countries this unrestricted sale of such drinks 
has been regarded as pernicious. Hence, as it is 
believed, in the code of laws in every civilized 
state, it has at all times been regulated aud put 
under restraint. In this respect it has formed 
an exception to other legislative business, and it 
is believed to have resulted from humane feelings, 
and to suppress immorality^ vice, crime and dis- 
order^ and the other miseries that follow in its 
train. This restraint is not the peculiar growth 
of any particular political faith, or of any creed 
or sect, but seems to be a desire implanted in our 
nature to protect our race and kind from such 
evils. And it is implanted in the police power of 
the state, and may he exercised as tlie law-maTcer 
sliall deem for the hest interests of society. 

Its pernicious tendency would fully authorize 
its exercise^ even to its absolute proliihition as an 
article of sale. [Opinion Supreme Court of 
Illinois.— City of Chicago vs. Schuecherr .'] 

The effect of the entire legislation upon the 



TO THE LIQUOE T^AJ^I^IC. ^15 

liquor traffic lias been not to encourage persons 
to embark in the business, but to hedge it about 
with restrictions and qualifications, and over- 
shadow it with fines and penalties. The whole 
course of legislation on this subject prevents any 
presumption being indulged that this trafiic, like 
other employments, adds to the wealth of the 
nation, or to the convenience of the public. The 
presumption is thus declared, in almost express 
terms, to be that the traffi^c is injurious t(t the 
public interests^ and hence the rule protecting 
other interests does not apply to this one, and 
therefore it cannot be said to be within the rule. 
\_Opmio7i Supreme Court of Indiana. — Harri- 
son^ et al., vs. LocTcJiart.'] 

The police power, which is exclusively in the 
state, is competent to the correction of tJiese 
great evils [the sale and drinking of liquor] and 
all measures of restraint or prohibition neces- 
sary to eff'ect that purpose are within the scope 
of that authority, and if a loss of revenue should 
accrue to the United States from a diminished 
consumption of ardent spirits, she will be a 
gainer a thousand-fold in the healthy loealth and 
happiness of the people. [ Opinion of the U. S. 
Supreme Court — 5 Howard, folio 632.'] 

It is not a question then as to the right of the 

people through their representatives to altogether 

abolish the liquor traffic. There is no doubt 

now that if the majority of the people of this 

country should declare for the total abolition of 

the manufacture and sale of ardent spirits, that 

they have a right to do so, and the judiciary 

w^ould be compelled to uphold the declared will 

of the people. 



216 LEGAL OPINIONS IN KEGARD 

The only question left to consider is tliat of 
interference with " vested rights," so called. The 
liquor-trading interests claim that by the build- 
ing of distilleries, the erection of machinery and 
the investment of money in necessary appliances 
for the production and sale of ardent spirits, they 
have acquired certain property rights which the 
legislature cannot interfere with. And they 
quote in support of this position certain authori- 
ties on the subject. 'Now let us briefly examine 
this position. Austin, an acknowledged authority 
on this subject in England, says : 

The doctrine of vested rights must not be 
stretched too far, as there is scarcely a right on 
which some expectations are not founded, and 
which does not, in some degree, serve as a guide 
of conduct. It can only be admitted where the 
loss would be great, and the probability of the law 
being repealed or modified was inconsiderable. 

Now it is manifest that the investment made 
by the distillers is based on an expectancy of 
profit or return from the capital so invested. No 
man can acquire a right to injure his neighbor. 

The testimony of a vast majority of the pro- 
fessors of medical science is to the effect that 
alcohol in all its forms is injurious to the physical 
system ; hence the question of public policy 
takes the precedence of individual desires and 
even of individual claims of rights. Lewis, 
another eminent authority on the same subject, 
has the following : 

"When it is said that the Legislature ought not 



TO THE LIQUOR TRAJ^FIC. 217 

to deprive parties of tlieir " vested rights," all 
that is meant is this : that the rights styled 
"vested" are sacred or inviolable, or are such as 
the parties ouglit not to be deprived of by the 
Legislature. Like a thousand other propositions, 
which sound speciously to the ear, it is either 
purely identical and tells us nothing, or begs 
the question in issue. If it mean that there are 
no cases in which the rights of parties are not to 
yield to considerations^of expediency, the propo- 
sition is manifestly false, and conhicts with the 
practice of every Legislature on earth. "When the 
expression "vested right" is used on such occa- 
sions, it means one or another of two things — 
First, that the right in question ought not to be 
interfered with by the Legislature which (as I 
have- remarked already) begs the question at 
issue ; or, secondly, that in interfering with rights, 
the Legislature ought to tread with the greatest 
possible caution, and ought not to abolish them 
without a great and manifest preponderance of 
general utility. And, it may be added, the pro- 
position, as thus understood, is just as applicable 
to contingent rights ; or to chances or possibili- 
ties of rights, as to vested rights, or rights prop- 
erly so called. To deprive a man of an expec- 
tancy, without a manifest preponderance of gen- 
eral utility, were just as pernicious as to deprive 
him of a right without the same reason to justify 
the measure. 

A preponderance of "general utility," then, it 
seems, is a warrant for depriving the individual 
of all rights of expectancy of profits. 

If the professors of the science of medicine and 
hygiene pronounce ardent spirits to be an agent 
of disease and physical deterioration, then as 



218 LicGAL opmioNs m eegard 

tlie state is entitled to the services of tlie citizen, 
and is bound to protect the public health, as a 
measure of protection and self-preservation, 
public policy, or the " preponderance of utility," 
requires that the state shall take measures to re- 
move whate\^er may be injurious to the common 
weal of the citizen. A man may not vend poison 
to destroy his neighbors. Then, again, the teach- 
ers of morals all through the ages have uniformly 
taught ihat the use of ardent spirits was destruc- 
tive of morality. Now the state in a certain 
measure is constituted the guardian of morality. 
We hear a good deal about individual rights, the 
liberty of the citizen, and so on. Again, we oc- 
casionally see in the public journals lucubrations 
" against the folly," as they say, of legislating 
morality into the people ; — the individual may 
be moral or immoral and the state has no right 
to interfere. Such doctrine, pushed to its logical 
results, would be a declaration against all gov- 
ernment — it would put an end to order, moral, 
social and political. 

The law declares certain actions of individuals 
misdemeanors and felonies ; not because the 
property rights or the personal safety of others 
are invaded or threatened, but because the actions 
are immoral. In this category are certain acts 
of lewdness, sodomy and the crime against na- 
ture, in which only the individual guilty is con- 
cerned. And yet the state justly defines such 
transactions as contrary to morality and provides 



TO THE LIQUOR TRAFFIC. 219 

a penalty for the offense. The courts have de- 
clared the liquor-traffic as injurious to the public 
interests, and in all legislation, whether in favor 
of prohibition or the license system, it is treated 
as an outlawed business. 



CHAPTER XV. 

WASTED EESOUECES — STAKTLIIN'G FACTS. 

Thus far we liave confined the discussion of 
the subject of intemperance to its historical, 
moral, and hygienic bearings. AYe come now to 
consider it in its relations to the material in- 
terests of the nation. Mr. Jefferson said, only a 
short time before he closed his long life devoted 
to the service and instruction of his countrymen: 
"Were I to commmence my administration again, 
with the knowledge which I have acquired from 
experience, the first question I would ask with 
regard to every candidate for public office 
should be, is he addicted to the use of ardent 
spirits?" Only the sober can properly perform 
the functions of a ruler, or administrator of law. 
The law-maker especially should always be in a 
mental condition to clearly comprehend the 
nature and efi'ects of the laws he enacts. Yet, ac- 
cording to uncontradicted statements, one out of 
every eleven of the members of the American 
Congress are habitual drun'kards. No wonder, 
then, that we have had corruption ; no wonder 
we have had bad laws ; no wonder the condition 



STARTLIlSra FACTS. 221 

of the country has heen gradually growing worse 
financially and morally. Bad legislation ac- 
counts for many of the evils which now afflict 
the country, and the intemperate habits of the 
law makers, in part at least, account for bad 
legislation. 

And now there ascends a cry of distress from 
every human hive between the shores of the At- 
lantic and Pacific oceans, and from the borders 
of British America to the frontiers of Mexico. 
There is want, poverty and wretchedness every- 
where. Twelve hundred thousand men roaming 
about the country unemployed — poverty-stricken 
and wretched tramps. An equal number of help- 
less and dependent women cry mightily from 
their abodes of wretchedness, and distressed 
childhood mingles its feeble wails to render still 
more heart-rending the agonizing moan of suffer- 
ing multitudes. 

What means this unwonted distress in a land 
of abundance ? Why should men find nothing 
to do in a country which boasts of its progressive 
spirit and wonderful activities ? Why should 
women starve for the lack of bread in a land 
which la3^s claim to the title of the ''granary of 
the world ?" Why should children wallow in 
filthy rags and grow up in the school of poverty 
and vice in a nation which claims to possess en- 
lightenment superior to all otjier nations and re- 
sources without bounds ? Why all these niani- 
festions of wretchedness and discontent? 



S2S WASTED RESOtTECES, 

iN"© sucli condition of tilings can exist witliont 
an adequate cause. !N'ow what is that cause? 
We have had many theories concerning the 
source of the evils which afflict our land. But, to 
our mind, the social economists who have written 
learnedly and well on false hypotheses, have 
failed to touch upon what the facts prove as the 
chief cause of poverty among the American 
people. 

The long, dry columns of figures in a statisti- 
cal report of a government TDureau may not te 
esteemed the most interesting reading matter, 
or even as a casual study such matter does not 
appear laden with many elements of absorbing 
interest. And yet in those pages of dry facts are 
to be found the reasons of many manifestations 
in the political and social movements of the peo- 
ple, which compel attention from all classes. 
These books of figures are burdened with mean- 
ings which all must heed. They become alive 
with significant warning, if we but seek to un- 
ravel their mazes. 

It is an unpleasant task to attempt to disturb 
the public serenity by showing the tremendous 
depths of the public demoralization — a task 
which can only be rightly performed by a resort" 
to the solid facts revealed by the labors of the 
statistician. If we should make the broad as- 
sertion that the drinlc -hills of tlds country are in 
amount annually douMe the entire sum of the 
taxes paid on account of the national and state 



STARTLING FACTS. 223 

governments together, without an appeal to tlie 
figures, our statement would "be instantly called 
in question. If we should declare that the sum 
annually paid for driiilcs in this country ex- 
ceeded by an enormous amount the sum paid for 
food, and not back the declaration by irrefragi- 
ble evidence, v/e might be charged, if not w^ith 
willful exaggeration, at least with possessing a 
most expansive imagination. In self-defence 
then we must resort to the figures. 

The figures presented by Mr. David A. "Wells 
in 1868, show the effects of legislation on the 
whisky trafiic. We take a few of the statements 
as a basis for comparison. The drink-bills for 
one year in the following States were as follows : 
Maine — prohibitory laws, % 15. per capita. 
Vermont '' " 23. '' " 

l^ew Hampshire " " 43. " '< 

New Jersey — license law, 68. " " 

Maryland " " 100. '' " 

California— "Free trade," 210. " " 
These facts are significant. But since 1868 there 
have been even greater difi'erences. In Maine, the 
per capita consumption of spirits has fallen in a 
satisfactory ratio to the pox)ulation, so that in 
1876 the amount was only about $11 ; while in 
Vermont the rigid enforcement of the law had 
reduced the consumpt longer ca2nta in that state to 
a fraction less than $10 per annum. New Hamp- 
shire's inhabitants consumed less than $18 worth 
per head. In Maryland $102 worth was consum- 



224 WASTED EESOURCES, 

edj and in New Jersey $67 wortli was sold for 
eacli person. California shows a steady increase, 
and in 1876 §216 worth was sold for each individ- 
ual in the population. Can legislation be made 
to effect a decrease in the amount of the liquor 
traffic ? The facts prove that it may effect great 
things in that direction. 

In the annual report of the commissioner of in- 
ternal revenue for 1877, are some interesting facts 
for the consideration of social reformers and poli- 
tical economists. In the state of Maine there are 
no distilleries or rectifying establishments, but 4 
breweries, 6 wholesale liquor-dealers, and only 
402 saloons. In the state of Kentucky there are 
754 distilleries, 54 rectifying establishments, 37 
breweries, 240 wholesale liquor-dealers, and 4,284 
saloons. In Yermont there are only 2 breweries, 
1 wholesale licjuor-dealer, and only 433 saloons. 
New Hampshire has 2 distilleries, 12 wholesale 
liquor-dealers, and 930 saloons ; while little Rhode 
Island has 42 wholesale liquor-dealers and 1,279 
saloons. 

They have no prohibitory law inHhode Island. 
It is plain what legislation can accomplish toward 
making people sober. 

The folio wins: statements will show the number 
in some of the other states, in the order of magni- 
tude of the traffic : 

New Ycrk: 111 distilleries, 379 breweries, 741 
wholesale liquor-dealers and 23,854 licensed 
saloons. 



STAKTLING FACTS. 225 

Pennsylvania: 140 distilleries, 361 breweries, 
483 wholesale liquor-dealers and 16,105 licensed 
saloons. 

Ohio : 106 distilleries, 218 breweries, 397 whole- 
sale liquor-dealers and 14,248 licensed saloons. 

Illinois : 75 distilleries, 148 breweries, 247 whole- 
sale liquor-dealers and 10,548 licensed saloons. 

California: 401 distilleries, 182 breweries, 269 
wholesale liquor-dealers and 8,408 licensed 
saloons. 

Missouri: 64 distilleries, 94 breweries, 226 
wholesale liquor-dealers and 6,369 licensed sa- 
loons. 

Massachusetts : 39 distilleries, 36 breweries, 251 
wholesale liquor- dealers and 6,386 licensed sa- 
loons. 

JN'ew Jersey : 158 distilleries, 59 breweries, 40 
wholesale liquor-dealers and 5,513 licensed 
saloons. 

Indiana : 120 distilleries, 97 breweries, 104 
wholesale liquor-dealers and 5,006 licensed sa- 
loons. 

Michigan: 1 distillery, 153 breweries, 80 whole- 
sale liquor-dealers and 4,696 licensed saloons. 

Wisconsin : 9 distilleries, 266 breweries, 81 
wholesale liquor-dealers and 4,477 licensed sa- 
loons. 

Maryland : 32 distilleries, 77 breweries, 176 
wholesale liquor-dealers and 4,320 licensed sa- 
loons. 

Kentucky: 754 distilleries, 37 breweries, 240 



226 WASTED EESOUECES, 

wholesale liquor- dealers and 4,224 licensed sa- 
loons. 

Iowa : 24 distilleries, 134 breweries, 70 whole- 
sale liqnor-dealers and 3,691 licensed saloons. 

Louisiana : 1 distillery, 12 breweries, 144 whole- 
sale liquor-dealers and 3,280 licensed saloons. 

Texas : 12 distilleries, 42 breweries, 118 whole- 
sale liquor-dealers and 2,960 licensed saloons. 

Tennessee : 475 distilleries, 2 breweries, 127 
wholesale liquor-dealers and 2,853 licensed 
saloons. 

Virginia : 516 distilleries, 6 breweries, 49 whole- 
sale liquor-dealers and 2,578 licensed saloons. 

Minnesota : 117 breweries, 34 wholesale liquor- 
dealers and 2,044 licensed saloons. 

Georgia : 300 distilleries, 3 breweries, 80 whole- 
sale liquor-dealers and 2,028 licensed saloons. 

Connecticut : 189 distilleries, 29 breweries, 58 
wholesale liquor-dealers and 2,490 licensed sa- 
loons. 

North Carolina : 1,025 distilleries, 37 wholesale 
liquor-dealers and 1,884 licensed saloons. 

District of Columbia : 15 breweries, 37 whole- 
sale liquor-dealers and 1,105 licensed saloons. 

The above are the states which show the great- 
est number of saloons, wholesale liquor-dealers 
and breweries. These statistics^ are compiled 
from the number of licenses issued by the gov- 
ernment, and of course do not include the thou- 
sands of places where liquor is sold illegitimately. 
The total number of licensed saloons or drinking 



stabtliintg facts. 227 

places in tlie United States for the fiscal year end- 
ing June 30, 1877, was 164,598, or calculating from 
a population of 45,000,000, one for every 280 per- 
sons. The total number of wholesale liquor- 
dealers is 4,604 ; brewers 2,758 ; rectifiers 1,130 ; 
distillers 4,992. 

In the District of Columbia there are more 
saloons than there are in Colorado, Dakota,Dela- 
ware, Florida, Idaho, Maine, Montana*, Nebraska, 
"New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, 
Yermont, Washington territory, West Virginia, 
or Wyoming. There are nearly three times as 
many saloon-keepers in the District of Columbia 
as in two-thirds of the states and territories 
named, and every Congress is called upon to 
appropriate money to aid the poor of this dis- 
trict. The death rate in the district is greater 
than in any state in the Union in proportion to 
population. 

Here is located much of the mischief which 
afflicts our country from the cursed reign of the 
Demon-Tyrant, Strong Drink. Of the entire num- 
ber of the members of Congress — senators and 
representatives — there are thirty- three confirmed 
dricnJmrds. One hundred ■ and sixty-six are 
periodical drinlcers. Thirty-three take a glass 
occasionally through courtesy. Thus we hnve 
revealed the source from whence so many saloon- 
keepers in the District of Columbia drn.AV their 
revenues. Out of three hundred and sixt}^- 
seven members of Congress, there are two hun- 



228 WASTED RESOURCES 



dred and thirty who drink, thirty-three of which 
numher are confirmed sots, while one hundred 
and sixty- six occasionally get drunk, thirty-three 
are seldom drunk, and one hundred and thirty- 
seven only are always sober. 

The example set by these illustrious law-divers 
exerts a most baneful influence on the social life 
of the nation. It has made our K'ational Capital 
a notorious den of social iniquities. And this 
influence goes abroad, and the people who aspire 
to political honors everywhere deem it necessary 
to be in the fashion, and follow in the footsteps 
of the nation's statesmen ; these local leaders in 
their turn have a personal following, and their 
dependents drink because they wish to imitate 
the habits of their champion ; and so on down to 
the very lowest ranks of society. Every one has 
some influence, and none are without imitators 
of their social habits. 

One hundred and sixty-four thousand five hun- 
dred and ninety-eight saloons licensed to sell a 
deadly poison in unlimited quantities to all who 
have the lack of self-control to demand it ! 
What a picture is here presented ! And then 
take another view of the subject. Suppose that 
each one of these licensed places requires for its 
management and supervision three persons on 
an average, and the number employed is 493,- 
794 — engaged in dosing out poison to not 
less than sixteen millions of their fellow-beings 
in the course of the year. In this account we do 



STAETLma FACTS. - 229 

not inclnde the distilleries and wholesale liqnor 
houses, where a vast amount of drinking is 
carried on. 

There is a very significant fact connected with 
these figures : — wherever the ratio of saloons to 
the population is largest there the mortality 
lists are largest. In Washington City the ratio 
of saloons to the population is larger than in any 
city in the Union, and the death rate is heavier 
than in any other community. Surely the very 
shadow of death hangs like a pall around the 
den of the demon. 

Let us look over the figures a little further. 
We shall find cause for astonishment. The fol- 
lowing statement is made up from ofiicial esti- 
mates : 

Value of liquors sold in 1877 .$700,000,000 

Yalue of food and food preparations. 580,949,411 

Preponderance of value of liquors $119,050,5'89 

Dr. Hargreaves, of Philadelphia, eminent as a 
physician and recognized as a careful and reliable 
statistician, estimated the value of the intoxi- 
cating liquors manufactured and drank from 1860 
to 1872, inclusive, as follows : 

Yalue of intoxicating liquors in 12 

years $6,780,161,805 

Total war expenses of the United 

States and loyal states '. 6,165,237,000 

Excess of the tippling Mils $614,924,805 

So it is seen that the direct cost to the people 
8 



^30 WASTED EESOUECES, 

of tlie United States for tlieir drinks in the course 
of twelve years was greater hy the sum of six 
hundred and fifteen millions of dollars than the 
whole expenditures of the general government 
and all the Union states in the most gigantic and 
protracted war of recent times, including the 
period from I860 to 1866. 

Now let us take another look and see what 
the net cost outside of this direct outlay is 
legitimately determined to be to the people of 
these United States : 
Number of persons engaged in selling 

liquor at wholesale and retail 505,260 

Number of persons engaged in the manu- 
facture of liquors 40.364 

Whole number employed in the traffic 545,624 

Value of the services of 545,624 men 

at $500per annum $272,812,000 

Half time of 600,000 tipplers and 

other drinkers— $250 each 150,000,000 

Value of 90,000,000 bushels of grain 

at 40c per bushel 36,000,000 

Aggregating $458,812,000 

To which add direct cost 700,000,000 

Grand total $1,158,812,000 

Is this all? If it comprised all the losses ac- 
cruing to the people of the United States, it 
would be sufficiently appalling. Just think of 
these figures ! One billion, one hundred and fifty - 
eight millions, eight liund.red and twelve thousand 
dollars wasted in one single year! More than 



STAKTLII^ra EACTS. 231 

twenty-thi'ee dollars jper capita. Estimating the 
population of the United States at 45,000,000/ 
every man, woman and child in the country are 
deprived of twenty-three dollars each on account 
of this fearful traffic 1 Talk not of the burden 
of taxation. The drinMng TiaMt is a fearful in- 
cubus upon national prosperity, as well as on 
national morality. 

But we are not done with the figures yet. 
There are other sources of depletion of the right- 
ful ^ains of the united industries of the people. 
The omission to perform social, political and 
moral duties to the detriment of the general wel- 
fare of the people is scarcely less blameworthy 
than the direct commission of crime against 
society. Taking this view of the matter, let 
us farther investigate the facts in relation to the 
destructive power of the demon of strong drink. 
The president of the Michigan State Board of 
Health, Dr. Hitchcock, has made extensive en- 
quiries, and carefully investigated the causes of 
disease and death. As the result of these in- 
quiries, he has furnished to the world some very 
interesting figures. Some of his estimates are as 
follows : 
Number of constantly sick persons in the 

Union from the use of alcohol 98,000 

Number of idiots from the same cause 319,000 

Cut off by premature death by use of al- 
cohol 300,000 

Total , 717,000 



232 WASTED EESOUKCES, 

Estimate the annual value of labor of these at 
five hundred dollars, and we have the enormous 
sum of three Jiundred and fifty-eight millions 
of dollars lost to the nation. 

Bat these figures do not show all the evil of 
this fell passion for drink. For instance, the ag- 
gregate number of years lost by the annual pre- 
mature deatlis amount to 1,127,000 years. Count- 
ing each year's service at fiYQ hundred dollars, 
we get the enormous aggregate of fide hundred 
and sixty -three millions five hundred thousand 
dollars^ lost by the destruction of that much of 
the productive energies of the nation ! To these 
direct losses the cost of maintaining the afflicted 
hosts bitten by this fatal and venomous enemy, 
must be added. 

Taking together all the losses, in direct cost of 
intoxicants, in loss of labor of vendors, manufac- 
turers, and drunkards, the nine thousand three 
hundred and thirty-eight persons annually ren- 
dered insane from use of liquors, the cost of 
caring for these, and the idiotic paupers, the ac- 
tual outlays for prisons, police and constabulary 
forces, courts and other legal appliances neces- 
sary to detect and bring to justice the criminals 
who have been made such by the indulgence in 
intoxicants, and the account will stand about as 
follows : 

To loss on labor; account of crime 
and cure of idiotic and insane, 



STAETLITTG TACTS. 233 

and direct cost of alcoholic driiik.$2,300,000,000 
To loss of grain wasted 36,000,000 

Total $2,339,000,000 

As an offset, government collects a revenue 
from tlie trade. 

In 1877 the receipts of revenue were 

about $60,225,995 

Receipts on 500,000 licenses under 

state laws at $100 50,000,000 

Making a total of "..$110,225,995 

Should it be objected that the estimated value 
of labor is too much, that $100, and not $500, 
would be a fair average, still the loss would be 
enormous, thus : 

Yalue of labor lost perannnm $248,879,000 

Value of grain wasted 36,000,000 

Care of insane and idiots — victims 

of drink 50,000,000 

Courts, jails and police to suppress 

drinking crimes 100,000,000 

Total loss $434,879,000 

To which add cost of drink 700,000,000 

Grand total $1,134,879,000 

Total revenue receipts from spirits.. 110,225,995 

Annual loss to the nation $1,024,653,005 

It will be observed that we have taken no ac- 
count of the capital invested in machinery, lix- 
tures, buildings, etc., necessar}^ to the conduct- 
ing of the business of manufacturing ardent 



234 ' WASTED KESO FECES, 

spirits. The sum is enormous. This will fairly 
offset any over-estimate of the direct cost of 
whisky, brandy and wine drank by the people 
of this country. 

In the thirty-seven states and eight territories 
there were, according to the latest reports, two 
thousand two hundred and ten county prisons.. 
The average number of inmates is eight to each 
prison, making a total of seventeen thousand 
six hundred and eighty persons confined in 
county prisons. Number of houses of correction 
in the United States, twenty-eight ; total number 
of persons confined, seven thousand five hundred. 
Number of state penitentiaries, forty -two ; total 
number of prisoners confined, seventeen thou- 
sand. These criminal statistics have a direct 
bearing on the liquor question. Let us recapitu- 
late : 

Number of prisoners in county jails 17,680 

Number of prisoners in houses of correc- 

. tion 7,500 

Number of prisoners in state penitentia- 
ries 17,000 

Total number of prisoners 42,180 

It is estimated that the cost of maintaining the 
machinery of criminal law courts, marshals, 
sheriffs, jailers, turnkeys, constables, and other 
incidentals in the enforcement of the law amounts 
to $1500 for each prisoner committed for felony. 
Then we have the cost of apprehending and 



STARTLING FACTS. 235 

TDringing to trial 42,180 prisoners at $1,500 eacli, 
making a total expenditure on this account of 
$62,270,000. It is claimed that three-fourths of the 
crimes committed are traceable to indulgence in 
strong drink. If this estimate be approximately 
correct, then we have an additional item of cost 
to the people of this country of $46,702,500, to 
"be charged to the account of the drinting habit. 

We have said nothing concerning the police 
prisons of the cities ; nothing in relation to the 
enormous cost of maintaining the police ma- 
chinery ; nothing in regard to the cost of main- 
taining prisoners in county jails and other pris- 
ons of detention ; nothing of the cost of erecting 
prison houses ; and have placed no estimate 
upon the value of the time consumed by per- 
sons not directly connected with the judicial 
tribunals, in consequence of the trials of the 
multitude of culprits — made outcasts through 
the dreadful agency of strong drink. 

The prison houses of the United States to-day 
are tenanted by men enough to fill the ranks of 
an army greater than the allied forces of France 
and the United States under the command of 
Washington at York town when Cornwallis sur- 
rendered ; greater than the army commanded by 
Pemberton when he surrendered Vicksbarg. 
Aye, greater than Lee had with him at Appo- 
mattox Court House ! In all these figures are 
presented pictures of human misery which can- 
not be estimated in dollars and cents. 



CHAPTER XYI. 

FAMOUS TEMPEEAjS'CE LEADEES AND LECTUEEES. 

The greatest merit of a great many people is 
tliat they do as other people do. Such persons 
cannot tolerate any departure from established 
modes of action. They move round and round 
in a circle, and because they keep moving, as it is 
somewhere observed, they fancy they are making 
progress ; and they are never reminded of their 
error, even when they discover, after motion, that 
they are but a short distance from their starting- 
point. In spite of this class it may belaid'down 
as a rule that where there is a great amount of 
character there will be a great amount of misun- 
derstood action, which is commonly called eccen- 
tricity, and usually translated — but most unjust- 
ly — to mean folly. It is safe to grant that it is 
well, as Lord Brougham expresses it, to do com- 
mon things in a common way, but this is distinct 
from a servile adoption of the principle of imita- 
tion in everything ; and no man of intellect, 
much less a man of progressive energies, will 
submit to walk only in the foot-paths made by 
the many. It is one of the conditions upon which 



LEADERS AND LECTUEERS. ' 237 

its efficiency or the success or failure of its efforts 
depends that tlie mind shall act with freedom and 
be permitted to cast off, when necessary, the re- 
straint of rules founded merely on custom and 
having no bias in right. 

But the progress of the world can be promoted 
by no other class than that which breaks away 
from custom and strikes out from the beaten 
paths of social routine. Cromwell would never 
have become England's greatest ruler, had he 
moved smoothly along with the popular current. 
His long prayers and constant appeals to the 
bible as a sufficient authority for every action 
were regarded by his contemporaries as foolish 
eccentricities. But Cromwell cared little for 
the opinion of the time-servers and sycophants, 
who had changed their opinion when he had be- 
come Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of 
Great Britain. These peculiarities had then be- 
come evidences of his transcendent genius. 
Cromwell had become famous, and his idiosyn- 
crasies were now fashionable, and therefore emi- 
nently proper. Men like Wilberforce and Thomp- 
son, who undertook to go in a direction contrary 
to the general sentiment, were at the time re- 
garded as eccentric, nay, foolish. So with Garri- 
son and Gerrit Smith and Wendell Phillips, in 
this country. Even Massachusetts, a state in- 
habited by a race which prides itself on possess- 
ing liberality of opinion and progressive thought, 
could not tolerate what was esteemed the folly of 



238 FAMOUS TEHPERAlSrCE 

Garrison, Phillips, Smitli and their fellow advo- 
cates of the anti-slavery cause. 

All the world's great reformers, from Socrates 
to Huss, and on to our own times, have been 
stigmatized as teachers of evil things and 
presented as disturbers of established order. 
So in other days the Greeks dosed Socrates 
with poison ; the Jews nailed the Redeemer 
to the cross ; the church chained John Huss to 
a stake and burned him to ashes ; Jerome of 
Prague was consumed in flames ; Luther was 
hunted as an enemy of mankind; Servetus was 
murdered ; and thousands of others have breath- 
ed out their lives amid the most excruciating tor- 
tures that diabolical malice could suggest ; and 
all because they saw, more clearly the wantis of 
the coming generations — they had discovered the 
true pathway of progress. 

It was so with the early temperance reformers. 
True, the' days of physical persecution had 
ended ; but they were stigmatized as deluded 
fanatics and all manner of abuse was heaped 
upon them. But their cry was : 

*' On, still on the worlds are speeding 

Through the heavens with flight sublime ; 
On, still on, the nations leading, 

March we through the deeps of Time ! 
Through the shadow of the ages, 

Onward, upward lies our way — 
Till we reach the morning edges, 

Climbing to the climbing day ! 



LEADERS AND LECTUREES. 239 

Bound 118, piled in desolation, 

Ghostly shapes of ruin rise ; 
Gloonoy Terrors, hoary Errors, 

Tombs of buried centuries. 

"Press we on with hearts undaunted- 
Leaving all that time hath won — 

Through the dusky, phantom-haunted 
Passes of Oblivion. 

Night is o^er us, heights before us 
Human footsteps never trod ; 

Still ascending, we are wending 
On beneath the stars and God.'' 

It must liave required the highest courage on 
the part of Dr. Justin Edwards to go forth from 
the pulpit of a wealthy congregation to embark 
in the advocacy of an unpopular cause. Surely to 
him difficulties appeared looming like mountains, 
rugged, lofty and hard to be passed. He lived 
at a period when even in Puritan New England 
the habit of drinking was interwoven with the 
social customs of the people. Deacons in fashion- 
able churches spent their week-daj^s in superin- 
tending distilleries and strangely mingling 
heaven and hell by selling along with jngs and 
demijohns of fiery rum copies of the Holy Scrip- 
tures. And even preachers — those called upon 
to expound the word of God — sometimes engaged 
in the liquor traffic. There is at least one case 
reported of a thrifty minister of a prominent 
church who attended to a distillery during six 
days of the week and preached to his people 



240 FAMOUS TEMPEEAI^CE 

on Sunday. To thunder fortli denunciations 
again tliis evil cnstom, required nerve in those 
days. It is said that some of Dr. Edwards' best 
friends remonstrated with him on the folly of un- 
dertaking to break up the social habits of the 
people. But he was not to be deterred from his 
purpose.^ To all appeals he was immovable. H& 
felt, like Juliana in the play, that — 

'' ^Tis in a cause so honorable, that I scorn 

With any sign that may express a sorrow, 
To show I do repent." 

For him there was no repentance, nor indeed 
anything to cause it, for he well knew that he 
had enlisted in a holy cause. He had seen 
the effect of intemperance, he knew the dreadful 
doom it imposed on its victims, and his soul was 
moved. He expected rebuffs ; he expected the 
time-serving multitude would deride; that the 
custom-bound would not tolerate his "fanati- 
cism," as they were pleased to term his warfare 
on drunkenness. He knew that in any attempt 
to break up fixed customs — 

** The fool would cackle out reproof, 

Tbe very ass would raise his hoof; 
And he who held in his possession 

The single virtue of discretion, 
Who knew no overflow of spirits, 

Whose want ot passion was his merit, 
Whom wit and taste and judgment flies, 

Would shake his noddle and seem wise." 



LEABEES AND LECTUEERS. 241 

But he cared nothing for these things and went 
right on lecturing, preaching, writing, organizing 
and earnestly contending for the cause he had 
espoused. Dr. Edwards was a man who com- 
manded the respect of his opponents. "Pos- 
sessed of a clear, discerning mind, a strong, 
commanding utterance," without the smoothness 
of Addison, without the polish of Chesterfield, 
still few men were capable of so commanding 
the attention of a large assembly as this pioneer 
in the cause of temperance. He was one of the 
very first men on this continent to give form and 
force to the principles of total abstinence. For 
some years he was almost alone in his struggle 
against the monstrous vice. No man exerted so 
powerful an influence in giving direction to the 
temperance movement previous to 1837 as Dr. 
Edwards. Then he was joined by others, and 
still continued to labor with earnestness and ef- 
fectiveness until his strength failed. He died at 
the Sweet Springs, Yirginia, July 23, 1853, lament- 
ed by thousands of persons to w^hom he had been 
a friend and counselor in the struggle against 
the demon of strong drink. Dr. Edwards has 
justly been regarded as the originator of the 
American temperance movement. 

Samuel Chipman, of Boston, who has received 
the title of the American Howard, early attached 
himself to the temperance cause, and for more 
than thirty -five years lent his aid to every move- 
ment calculated to promote the interests of the 



S42 FAMOtrs tempeea:n'ce 

cause. At a ripe old age, Mr. Chipman died in 
1854, at liis home in Boston. 

Chief Justice Savage, of New York, was also 
a strong advocate of temperance principles, and 
by his position, legal learning and courage in 
advocating the cause, deserves a place among 
the eminent leaders of that cause. He died in 
1854, at Utica, IS'ew York. 

Perhaps no man connected with the earlier 
efforts in behalf of temperance exerted so power- 
ful an influence as Rev. Dr. Lyman Beecher. 
He was a mighty man in speech and in argu- 
ment, dealing tremendous blows. He became 
identified with the cause far back in its feeble 
beginnings, and so continued through a life- 
time extended beyond the ordinary span allotted 
to man. As we have already had occasion to 
allude to his labors further notice is unnecessary. 
Br. Beecher died at his home in Brooklyn, New 
York, January 10th., 1863. 

Edward C. Delavan was another pioneer 
in the cause of temperance. He enlisted 
earnestly in the work when a young man, and 
through a long life devoted his personal efforts 
and consecrated his am^ple fortune to the service 
of the cause which ever lay near his heart. Mr. 
Delavan was not only a strict total abstinence 
man, but he devoted his talents to the study of 
the wine question with a zeal unequaled. He 
was led to the conclusion that it was sinful to 
use the fermented and adulterated wines of 



LEADEKS A]S:J) lectukers. 243 

America at the communion table. He wrote 
articles in the newspapers, pamphlets and books 
to sustain his posicion that the unfermented fruit 
of the vine alone should be used in the sj^mboli- 
cal ordinance of the Lord's Supper. For this he 
was denounced by many persons and not a few 
ministers, as designing to subvert the religion of 
Christ, and for being little less than a blasphe- 
mer because he endeavored to banish from the 
communion service one of the elements consecrat- 
ed by Our Lord himself. 

This was a sore trial to Mr. Delavan, who was 
a devoui Christian believer. But his convictions 
were firm, and notwithstanding the grief which 
such assaults occasioned him, he did not falter 
in pursuing his own line of conduct. Mr. Dela- 
van may be regarded as one of the ablest and 
truest of the earlier temperance leaders. He died 
at his residence in Albany, New York, January 
15th, 1871. 

The Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Hewitt was one of the 
first among the temperance advocates to mount 
the rostrum in behalf of the cause lie had espous- 
ed. He was an eloquent man, strong, vigorous 
and effective before an audience. He was the 
first evangelist sent out to proclaim the doctrine 
of abstinence by the American Temperance So- 
ciety of Boston. His labors were abundantly 
successful. Perhaps no man of his day exerted 
so powerful an influence in favor of the cause as 
Dr. Hewitt, He was truly a forerunner — a John 



244 FAMOUS TEMPERANCE 

the Baptist crying in the wilderness, and in hun- 
dreds of pulpits all over the land he cried, aloud 
and spared not. Neither pastor nor parishioners, 
saint nor sinner escaped his expostulations. He 
painted in the deepest shades the awful crime of 
dealing in strong drink, and he remonstrated with 
the drinkers with the strens^th and force of an old 
prophet — plainly delineating God's will concern- 
ing transgressors. Perhaps no one since the days 
of Whitefield so agitated this country on a 
moral question. Dr. Hewitt, having accomplish- 
ed a grand work, was called to his rest, dying at 
Bridgeport, Conn., February 3d, 1876. 

Joshua Nye, of Maine, was another of the old 
time temperance leaders. He was active as an 
adherent of the prohibition cause and ably con- 
tended for the triumph of the party in that state 
of which Hon. Neal Dow was the acknowledged 
leader. He lived to see the complete triumph of 
prohibition, and was appointed Chief State Con- 
stable under the prohibition act by the Governor 
of Maine. 

On the 29th ^ay of January, 1866, at Schenec- 
tady, New York, the Rev. Eliphalet Nott, D. D., 
L L. D., President of Union College, closed his 
remarkable career. Dr. Nott's life had extended 
from the y§ar 1774. Early in the inception of 
the temperance movement Dr. Nott became con-* 
nected with it, and lent to the cause his great 
talents and unequaled learning. He became a 
convert to the principles of total abstinence and 



LEADEES AND LECTURERS. 245 

was ever -willing to defend tlie cause. As far back 
as 1845 he delivered a course of " temperance 
lectures," afterwards collected in a volume which 
to this day remains a standard work on the sub- 
ject. His great reputation as a scholar and col- 
lege president, which had extended to Europe, 
gave to Dr. Nott's opinions a weight and influence 
not attained by the writings or utterances of men 
less known, His advocacy of the temperance 
cause contributed largely to its advancement. 
This great apostle of abstinence had a theory that 
all alcoholic beverages shortened the life of 
the drinkers, and that by the practice of 
an abstemious regimen life might be extended,and 
gradually the race might produce men long-lived 
as in the patriarchal days. He was over ninety- 
two years old when death claimed him. 

Hon. George Hall, ex-Mayor of Brooklyn, who 
died in 1868, was a firm believer in the principles 
of total abstinence, and was a leader in the tem- 
perance cause in his day. 

Kev. Dr. IS. S. S. Beman was one of the early 
and unflinching advocates of the temperance 
cause. In his religious and social life he was an 
eminent example of consistent abstention. He 
died at Carbondale, Illinois, August 8, 1871, in 
the eighty -sixtli year of his age. 

William H. Burleigh, oneof the early lecturers 
and a writers for the temperance journals, a 
poet and an earnest pleader for the cause, died 
afBrooklyn, New York, March 18, 1871. He was 



246 FAMOUS TEMPEEANCE 

tiie author of the widely known poem entitled 
'' The Rum Fiend." 

Rev. Albert Barnes, at a ripe age, died in Jan- 
uary, 1871. He was one of the early temperance 
leaders, and author of a sermon entitled '^The 
Throne of Iniquity," which is, perhaps without 
exception, the most powerful argument against 
the liquor traffic ever delivered. 

John Tappan of Boston, who was eminent as a 
leader from the very beginning of the movement 
for a reform in the habits of the country, closed 
his career in 1871. 

Governor John H. Geary of Pennsylvania was 
a staunch advocate of temperance, and refused 
to allow wine at his inauguration. 

Hon. John H. Cocke of Virginia, first presi- 
dent of the ISTational Temperance Union, of which 
he remained president from 1836 to 1843, was a 
leader of the old temperance movement. He 
was a man of the highest character for honor, 
integrity, and consistent adhesion to whatever 
cause he undertook to champion. He died in 
1866. 

Dr. Reuben D. Mussey of Ohio, a man who 
filled some of the highest positions among the 
American Medical Colleges, perhaps was one of 
the most useful temperance leaders of his time. 
He became a convert to the total abstinence 
doctrine through his scientific investigations. 
While he was yet comparatively a young man 
he demonstrated the poisonouG qualities of alco- 



LEADERS Al^B LECTURERS. 24? 

hol in so clear and forcible a manner fchat many 
persons were at once convinced and renounced 
its use. He was thus the means of saving many 
hundreds — and those of the most intelligent 
classes— from going down to .the drunkard's 
slimy pit of degradation. Dr. Mussey's opinions 
as an eminent professor of medical science had 
weight with men of the highest intelligence, and 
because of his earnestness and high seientific 
acquirements he was of immense service to the 
cause. He died in 1866. 

The same year the Kev. Dr. John Pierpont, 
the bard of the temperance movement, and the 
elegant scholar, tlie eloquent lecturer, the able 
and argumentive advocate, entered into his rest. 

No account of the early and eminent leaders 
of the temperance movement would be complete 
without some mention of Father Taylor, the 
Sailor Preacher of Boston. He was a self- 
instructed man. His earlier years were passed 
before the mast. But he was a remarkable man. 
His eloquence was rude, but startling and 
effective. He had a way of saying wise things 
in a blunt way. Once he spoke two hours on 
temperance afc Newburyport before the Kew 
England Conference. He charged upon rum- 
sellers almost every species of crime known in 
the list of offenses against virtue, purity and 
moral obligations. He declared that Satan him- 
self would protest against companionship with 
the drunkard-makers, as he called saloon keep- 



248 FAMOUS TEMPERANCE 

ers. He maintained that Satan would regard it 
as an additional infliction of punishment to be 
compelled to receive such miscreants within the 
limits of hell. 

On another occasion he said before the legisla- 
ture of Massachusetts that he wanted to see "the 
grave of intemperance dug, and a stone rolled 
upon it as big as Jupiter." Speaking of what 
he regarded as the unparalleled wickedness of 
liquor-selling, he said of the dramshop keepers : 
"I wonder that the angels of heaven do not tear 
up the golden pavements and roll, them on' their 
heads." 

Once he was preaching at the Mariners' chapel 
— his church he called it — which wks frequented 
quite as much by the elite of Boston as by the 
jack tars. Becoming warmed up, he thus poured 
out his wrath against the rum traffic : "' And here 
it is yet, the accursed system to plague and tor- 
ture us, although we have exposed its villanies 
until it would seem that Satan himself ought to 
be ashamed to have any connection with it. I 
am not sure but he is, but some of his servants 
have more brass and less shame than their mas- 
ter. ^ ^ ^ ^ And your poor houses are full, 
and your courts and prisons are filled with the 
victims of this infernal rum traffic ; and your 
homes are full of sorrow, and the hearts of your 
wives and mothers. And yet the system is tol- 
erated. ^ * ^ Your fathers — your patriotic 
fathers — could make a cup of tea for his Britan- 



LEADERS Al^B LECTURERS. 249 

nic majesty out of a whole cargo, and you can't 
cork up a gin jug. Ha!" This eminent preacher 
of temperance and earnest Christian laborer died 
in the beginning of the year 1872. 

Later during the same year, another consistent 
man passed to his account. Horace Greeley had 
founded the Tribune^ and during his life that 
paper was an open advocate of the temperance 
cause. 

John Hawkins for years and years was a strong 
armed knight of the temperance cause. Perhaps 
no man in the space of time during which he 
labored, accomplished so much. He was literal- 
ly a missionary to the fallen. He haunted the 
saloons of Philadelphia, he laid in wait for the 
poor inebriate, hoping for an opportunity to do 
him good. He was a leader away back in the 
days of the Washingtonians. John Hawkins 
had travelled the drunkard's road, and he knew 
all about it. He died some years ago lamented 
by thousands. 

We have already had occasion to speak at 
some length of the labors of Father Mathew and 
Hon. Neal Dow, two noble leaders of the cause — 
each in his own peculiar sphere unequaled. 

Of Mr. John B. Gough, we have not given that 
full account which his great services as a lectur- 
er demand. For can it be done in the limited 
space at command in these pages. Mr. Gough 
is undoubtedly the most eloqnent advocate the 
temperance cause has yet produced in this 



/ 



250 FAMOUS TEMPEEA]^CE ^ 

country. Some of his pictures of the miseries 
flowing from the thirst for strong drink are truly 
appalling in their overpowering eloquence. As a 
specimen of his power to depict the woes of the 
drunkard the following extract from a report of 
one of his lectures is given : 

Ye mouldering victims ! Wipe the grave- 
dust crumbling from your brows ; stalk forth, in 
your tattered shrouds and bony whiteness to 
testify against the drink! Come, come forth 
from the gallows, you spirit-maddened man- 
slayer ! Give up your bloody knife, and stalk 
forth to testify against it ! Crawl from the slimy 
ooze, ye drowned drunkards, and with suffoca- 
tion's blue and livid lips speak out against the 
drink ! Unroll the record of the past, and let 
the recording angel read out the murder indict- 
ments written in God's book of remembrance! 
Ay, let the past be unfolded and the shrieks of 
victims wailing be borne down upon the night 
blast ! Snap your burning chains, ye denizens 
of the pit, and come up sheeted in the fire, drip- 
ping with the flames of hell, and w^ith your 
trumpet tongues testify against the damnation 
of the drink. 

The pen is not competent to describe the man- 
ner of Mr. Gough. He must be seen and heard 
to obtain a correct notion of his mighty power 
over an audience. No sooner had Mr. Gough 
become thoroughly convalescent, after signing, 
than he began that career which has proved so 
valuable to the temperance cause and so satis- 
factory to himself. The extract given above is a 
sample of his earlier efforts. Imagine such Ian- 



LEADEKS AlfD LECTUEERS. .. 253 

gnap:e flowing from a consummate actor, by the 
favor of nature an elocutionist unsurpassed, im- 
pelled by an enthusiasm that belongs to the 
redeemed only, and you may then have a faint 
conception of what John B. Gough was before an 
audience in the earlier stages of his career. 
No wonder he kindled a mighty flame. With 
age and experience he has become more power- 
ful if less enthusiastic. 

Lucius Manlius Sargent, Esq., of Massachu- 
setts, was undoubtedly one of the ablest promo- 
ters of the temperance cause among the pioneers. 
He became a convert to total abstinence princi- 
ples in early life, and his labors in behalf of the 
cause began contemporaneously with those of 
Drs. Justin Edwards, Lyman Beecher, Nathaniel 
Hewitt and John Marsh. Mr. Sargent was a fine 
helles lettres scholar, a fluent and even elegant 
writer. He entered the lists with ardor, and per- 
haps dealt more eff'ective blows against the evil 
of intemperance through his volumes of "Tem- 
perance Tale-s" than some of his great contem- 
poraries. Mr. Sargent died in the eighty-first 
year of his age, at his home near Boston, in 1868. 

The Eev. George Duflield, D. D., one of the 
ablest of the leaders of the temperance reform, 
died at Detroit, Michigan, June 24th., 1868. Dr. 
Dnffield was a leader in the Presbyterian church, 
and was all his life a firm supporter of the cause. 
He was one of the earliest and keenest investi- 
gators of the Scripture testimony. His contribu- 



254 FAMOUS TEMP^KANCE 

tions to literature were many, all iDearing direct- 
ly on this subject. To him the friends of tem- 
perance are indebted for the brilliant light he 
threw upon this branch of the subject. "The 
Bible E-ule of Temperance," his last and greatest 
work, is destined to accomplish a great work for 
humanity. It is a masterly elucidation of the 
bible doctrine of temperance. 

E-ev. Dr. John Marsh, the Apostle of the Amer- 
ican Temperance Union, was a mighty man in 
his day. With a splendid physique, command- 
ing presence, a voice of unparalleled compass 
and flexibility, possessed of a mind clear, in- 
cisive and logical, and heart warm and sympa- 
thetic, few men could have fulfilled his mission 
with equal ability. In his prime he was the 
peer of any man of his time on the American 
platform. Even when he had passed his three 
score years and ten, he was called "the old man 
eloquent." Like most of the temperance workers 
he lived to an advanced age. From 1829 until 
1867 he had devoted his wonderful gifts of 
speech and facility as a writer constantly to the 
work of advancing the interest of the temper- 
ance cause. He died in his 82nd year, at Hart- 
ford, Connecticut, in 1868. 

Rev. Thomas P. Hunt was another eminent lea- 
der of the temperance reformation. He was both 
a writer and speaker, a leader and lecturer. He 
wrote several works, among them an "Expose of 
the Adulterations of Liquors. " He was well -in- 



LEADERS AT^D LECTURERS. 255 

formed and a man of nnquestioned alDility. 
Father Hunt, as lie was called, lived to a green 
old age, and was always active in the canse. His 
is one of the names that will be cherished among 
temperance reformers after that of many men 
who filled a larger space in the public opinion in 
their day shall be forgotten. 

Most of those mentioned in this chapter have 
been called away from the scenes of their efforts. 
They were strong minded men, who dared to break 
away from the routine notions of the masses, who 
refused to be bound by the fetters of long estab- 
lished customs. In this sense they were great 
men. They originated ideas and formulated 
principles unknown to their contemporary gener- 
ation, until they gave them shape and expression. 
They were noble warriors and bold. Convictions 
of duty guided them, and the will to perform every 
obligation, hov/ever unpleasant, certainly was a 
trait of character possessed by most of the early 
temperance reformers. Like knights banded to- 
gether to rescue holy sanctuaries from unhallow- 
ed profanation, they contended with heroic cour- 
age to accomplish their grand undertaking. With 
hearts moved to pity by the terrible scenes of 
degradation presented around them, these men 
were supported in their resolves by a firm faith 
that they would reap if they fainted not, that even 
in their time they should see the fruition of the 
harvest of their sowing. They looked forward 
along the track of coming years and faith revealed 



256 FAMOUS tempeea:n'ce 

to til em a glorious scene of peace, joy, and pros- 
perity in the places dark and wretched then, 
where the demon of drunkenness in constant 
revelries celebrated the orgies of disease, despair 
and death. 

"Long the night that hath no breaking; — 

Darkness died upon their way ; 
Couraa:e r lo, the worlil was waking, 

Stirred with bodings of the day. 
Truth was dawning ! and the morning 

Kindled over sea and land ! 
And the gilded hills were warning 

That the day spring should not stand !" 

They saw even in their day the fruits of victory. 
The strong fetters of the tyrant were broken, and 
the bitter cup of despair was shivered even in the 
halls where it had long filled a place. And those 
heroes and patriots died, leaving a rich legacy of 
fruitful labor to the workers of this generation. 

And when the time came for the old warriors 
to put their armor by, and gather around them 
the drapery of their couches to lie down in drea^i- 
less death, brave young hearts were there to take 
up the weapons which had fallen from the nerve- 
less hands of the venerable knights, and strong 
men took up the armor, and with sympathy for 
the fallen, and charit}^ for the outcast, with minds 
imbued with eternal hostility to the enemy which 
caused such misery, they went forth to renew 
the conflict. The cause of temperance has now. 
able advocates in America among all classes. 



LEADERS AIS^D LECTUEEES. 257 

Among them are statesmen, lawyers, poets, min- 
isters, and scientists, besides the able defenders 
found among the non-professional masses of the 
people. 

Among distinguished statesmen who have en- 
couraged temperance by their example, we may 
mention Abraham Lincoln, General Lewis Gass, 
Hon. Theodore Frelinghuysen, Hon. John H. 
Geary, Hon. Henry Wilson, Hon. William A. 
Buckingham, and a long line of names scarcely 
less distinguished in the political annals of the 
nation. These have all passed to their reward. 

In the United Kingdom of Great Britain and 
Ireland have lived some noble apostles of the 
cause. Some of these quietly and without osten- 
tation performed their work and crossed over to 
the other shore of the river of Time. 

One name deserves to be mentioned, not so 
much on account of startling incidents connected 
with his history, but because of his quiet work 
and the results which followed. William Martin, 
a plain Quaker gentleman, was an early friend of 
Theobald Mathew, a Franciscan friar of Cork. 
Mr. Martin was an earnest temperance man and 
used to hold many consultations with his friend. 
Friar Mathew, concerning this question of in- 
temperance. The ecclesiastic gave patient 
audience to his friend on this subject, was con- 
vinced, converted to the total abstinence doctrine, 
and signed the pledge. That was one of the 
greatest events in the history of the temperance 



258 TAMOUS TEMPEEAFCE 

movement. The friar Ibecame a priest, and not 
only practised total abstinence but became a 
mighty agent in the hands of Providence in lead- 
ing a revolt against the demon of strong drink, 
such as was never witnessed before, and may 
never be again. The whole liquor trade of Ire- 
land was almost totally destroyed, and some of 
Father Mathew's own relatives, engaged in the 
traffic, were bankrupted on account of the de- 
struction of the liquor business. In another part 
of this work we have recorded a summary of the 
results of the visit of Fa.ther Mathew to the United 
States. His name is destined to stand next to that 
of St. Patrick in the Irish calendar. 

And this great man was led to the adoption 
of total abstinence through the kindly expostu- 
lations of William Martin, an unassuming Irish 
Quaker. If Mr. Martin had done nothing more 
in behalf of the temperance cause he would have 
won the right to a place among the temperance 
leaders of the United Kingdom. 

Kev. Dr. John Edgar, of Belfast college, Ire- 
land, was a pioneer in the cause of temperance. 
He was strong in his denunciation of alcoholics, 
but could not be induced to accept the doctrine 
of total abstinence. There came a time for 
division between the temperate advocates and 
the temperance (abstinence) men, and Dr. John 
Edgar was a champion of the former. In 1866, 
not long before his death, he came out squarely 
in favor of total abstinence, and published his 



LEADERS AITD LECTUEERS. 259 

reasons for the change of opinions, which was a 
means of grace to many moderate drinkers. 

John DQnlop, Esq., of Greenock, Scotland, was 
a pioneer leader of the temperance cause in that 
country. He commenced his work as early as 
1829, and was instrumental in organizing a strong 
temperance sentiment in various places in old 
Caledonia. 

Joseph Livesey of Preston, Lancashire, organ- 
ized a total abstinence society at that place in 
1832. He afterwards established, and for a long 
time conducted, the Preston Temperance Advo- 
catej a monthly periodical which made its ap- 
pearance in January, 1834. 

William Collins, of Glasgow, was another or- 
ganizer in the early struggles of the cause. 
He was really the originator, in connection with 
Mr. Dunlop, of the movement in Scotland. In 
1830 he commenced the publication of a monthly 
periodical called The Temyeranee Record and 
cheerfully sustained the pecuniary loss entailed 
by it. This publication was continued more 
than ten years. 

Mr. James Teare, of Preston, was an early and 
zealous temperance lecturer. With the courage 
of a martyr he took the field, unsustained by 
any organization, and worked his way through 
various parts of England. Between 1830 and 
1862, thirty-two years, Mr. Teare was a success- 
ful lecturer. 

Mr. Thomas Whittaker was the first agent or 



260 FAMOUS TEMPEKANCE 

lectnrer engaged "by the " Britisli Association for 
the Promotion of Temperance." He was sent 
out as an Evangelist in 1836, and until within the 
past few months he has iDeen incessantly engaged. 
His labors have formed ^n integral part of the 
British movement in behalf of temperance. 

Mrs. Sarah C. Hall, Mrs. C. L. Balfour, Mrs. 
Ellis, and other noted women were, in a sense, 
leaders of the temperance movement through 
their writings. Dr. Erasmus Darwin was a tem- 
perance advocate, and in that cause championed 
a moral evolution as great as his famous grand- 
son, Dr. Charles Darwin, afterwards in the more 
material world. Dr. Pye Smith, John Cassell, the 
London publisher, Kev. Dr. Charles Stovel, Rev. 
Dr. Jabez Burns and others were mighty men of 
valor during the first years of the great contest 
between temperance and drunkenness. 

In this brief sketch of famous temperance 
leaders and lecturers of this country and England, 
Ireland and Scotland, we have said little of any 
of the actors who are still in the field against the 
foe. We shall have occasion to allude to them 
frequently. Only those, with a few exceptions, 
who have laid down their lives, have been intro- 
duced here. 

It would be manifestly improper to close these 
notices without some mention of the heroic lead- 
ers of the temperance bands of our neighbors 
across the border in the dominion of Canada. 

The first temperance movement in Canada of 



LEADERS AlSri) LECTUREES. $61 

wMcli we have any account was organized as a 
sort of parish society, in connection with St. 
Andrew's church, Montreal, in 1828. This was 
accomplished through the active zeal of Rev. J. 
Christmas. But the pledge was simply to exer- 
cise prudence and moderation in drinking. It 
was a kind of temperate society. 

Hon. S. L. Tilly, late lieutenant-governor of the 
Province of New Brunswick, has long been a 
leader of the total abstinence and prohibition 
cause in that section. 

Hon. Malcolm Cameron, M. P., was an early 
advocate of the cause. In 1855 he introduced a 
bill into the old parliament of Canada which, if 
it had been enacted, would have given the 
provinces of Ontario and Quebec a prohibitory 
law. 

' Hon. Christopher Dunkin, M. P., in 1864 
secured the passage of an excise law applicable 
to the two provinces of Ontario and Quebec. 

Hon. George W. Ross, M. P., is a staunch ad- 
vocate of temperance and always supports meas- 
ures having the object of restricting the liquor 
traffic in the dominion of Canada. 



CHAPTEE XYII. 

TOTAL AB'STINEIS'CE IN GEE^.T BEITAIN" AND lEE- 

LAND. 

The consumption of intoxicating liqnors in 
Great Britain and Ireland is enormous. In 1876 
the drink bills of the United Kingdom are re- 
ported as exceeding $700,000,000. In Ireland 
there was a time when entire prohibition might 
have been achieved. That was in the days of 
Father Math eWj when the Catholic population 
had become abstinent, and when many great 
Protestant advocates rose up in behalf of the 
cause, all Ireland moved in its might and de- 
throned King Alcohol. But the forces were not 
organized, and had before them no definite polit- 
ical object. Soon the tyrant returned, and com- 
menced again the reign of sorrow. 

In England no such victory was won. Long 
established custom had made of the British peo- 
ple an intemperate race. Here and there were a 
few abstinent persons, but they exerted little in- 
fluence upon the masses surrounding them. The 
temperance movements proceeding in America 



GEEAT BlilTAIK AND IRELAND. 263 

made considerable impression in England. There 
were men who waited for the dawning of the 
light with the patience and earnestness of a 
Simeon waiting for the salvation of Jehovah to 
visit sorrow-stricken Judea once more. But no 
Bethlehem star shone out from the thick dark- 
ness which enveloped the island empire. So the 
little companies who came together to lament the 
sad condition of their beloved native land 
watched and waited and prayed. 

Fifty years or more ago, a Presbyterian minis- 
ter from one of the New England states was visit- 
ing the city of Belfast, Ireland. There he ob- 
served the universal custom of drinking. Potlieen 
was to be found on all occasions. Having made 
the acquaintance of Rev. Dr. John Edgar, a pro- 
fessor in the Presbyterian college there, he 
opened to him his mind in regard to the great sin 
of drunkenness which he had observed to be ex- 
cessively common among the people. Dr. Edgar 
readily assented to the views of the American, 
and entered heartily into a project for reforming 
these habits. He wrote and caused to be printed 
in the columns of the Belfast JSorthern V/liig^ an 
appeal to the people, setting forth the terrible 
evils of intemperance, and urged upon them to 
rise and stand in the dignity of true manhood, 
by frowning down drunkenness and debauchery. 
But Dr. Edgar was not an advocate of absti- 
nence altogether; he was merely urging modera- 
tion in the use of intoxicants. 
9 



264 TOTAL ABSTmEKCE IK 

Then came Jolin Dunlop and William Collins, 
and they erected the standard of total absti- 
nence in many of the cities and towns of Scot- 
land. 

In Ireland, as early as 1831, a temperance so- 
ciety for the province of Ulster was organized 
nnder the anspices of the Rev. G. W. Carr of 
New Koss, and soon after the "Hibernian Tem- 
perance Society" was organized in Dublin. Of 
this society the Solicitor General for Ireland, 
Philip Crampton, Esq., was president. In this 
movement Catholics and Protestants united. 
There were some able and zealous men enlisted 
in the cause at an earl}'^ time in the history of 
temperance. In Ireland, Richard Allen, Dr. 
Cheyne, Dr. Harvey and Rev. Dr. Morgan, were 
found zealously working for the cause by the 
side of Rev. Father Spratt. 

In England the beginning of the movement 
was indeed insignificant. A little society was 
organized at Preston, Lancashire, on the 23rd 
day of August, 1832, mainly through the exer- 
tions of Mr. John King and Joseph Livesey — in- 
deed they were the only members of the society 
for some weeks. In the early days of September 
the membership of the society numbered seven. 
The pledge required abstinence "from liquors of 
an intoxicating quality." 

Mr. Joseph Livesey, who became the leader of 
the temperance reform on the total abstinence 
basis, made battle against the use of malt as 



GREAT BRITAITT AND IRELAND. 265 

well as alcoholic liquors. He delivered a famous 
lecture through the country popularly known as 
^'Livesey's Malt Lecture," in which he exposed 
the very common belief that ale and beer were 
nourishing articles of food. He assumed this 
position in consequence of having read Dr. 
Franklin's Autobiography, in which he detailed 
his abstemious life while serving as a journey- 
man printer in London, when he demonstrated 
that such fermented liquors contributed nothing 
toward the sustenance of the body. 

The Preston society was the parent of the 
total abstinence movement in England. Truly 
its beginnings were feeble. Its first members 
were John King and Joseph Livesey. Then five 
others joined with them, and in the course of 
three or four weeks their numbers had swelled 
to eleven. 'Not many, it is true, but they were 
lions. They were all lecturers and writers and 
teachers, and were active beyond all precedent. 
From Preston, men like Teare, Smith, Livesey and 
King carried the abstinence standard all over 
England, aided of course by new accessions who 
joined the army of reform as tlie recruiting offi- 
cers passed on. Its beginnings were not high in 
the line of social prestige. John Bull loved his 
ale and porter, even though a tenant of a thatch- 
ed cottage ; but John Bull, as the master of man- 
sion, hall or castle, loved his whiskies and 
brandies and wines, and centuries of habit made 
him feel that he could not give up his pota- 



266 TOTAL ABSTIJSTENCE LN" 

tions, whatever might come. It was easier for 
the lower and middle classes to give up their 
light drinks than for the upper classes to yield 
their hot stimulating whisky and brandy. So 
the middle classes were the earliest converts and 
ablest advocates and promoters of temperance 
in England. 

If America gave to England the temperance 
ideas, England in turn has given to America 
many valuable suggestions in regard to the 
practical work of carrying out those ideas. 

The origin of the word "teetotal," as applied 
to abstinence from all that can intoxicate, is a 
legitimate subject for a paragraph. This word 
has become fixed in the language. On one occa- 
sion, when the temperance movement had just 
begun to excite attention, a poor laboring man of 
Manchester, England, named Richard Turner, 
was endeavoring to express his ideas of the 
scope and purposes of the temperance reform. 
He was talking to a meeting of temperance men. 
In the struggle for the proper word to express 
his meaning he exclaimed, "We must not stop 
the brandy and leave the wine ; we must not 
stop the wine and leave the strong beer! We 
must stop all ! We must make it a teetotal 
leaving off from every sort of vile liquor that 
can rob a man of his reason, convert him into a 
beggar, and cause his family to become de- 
pendents on charity." The word was taken up, 
and made the popular designation of that class 



GEEAT BRITAIIS" AND IRELAND. 267 

of the temperance reformers who taught the 
necessity for an entire abstention from any- 
thing that can intoxicate. ^'Teetotalers" is a 
familiar designation for temperance men all 
oyer the world to-day 

Mr. Henry Anderton, of Preston, the first cold- 
water bard attached to the new movement, has 
materially aided the temperance cause by his 
popular ballads, as well as more serious efforts 
in that field. Edward Grubb, one of the five 
who joined King and Livesey soon after they 
formed their society of two, also became a pow- 
erful advocate of the cause. 

A remarkable discussion took place in Leeds 
in 1836. One of the controversialists was a 
young man but little more than 21 years of age. 
His ability and clear incisive logic marked him 
as no ordinary mind. This young man has kept 
his early promise, and is to-day known and 
honored as a man of splendid talents wherever 
the English language is spoken, at least among 
men who make any pretensions to extensive in- 
formation. Scientific institutions have delighted 
to honor Dr. Frederic Richard Lees, perhaps the 
ablest man in all respects the temperance cause 
has yet produced. On the occasion of the Lees 
debate, which created no small excitement at 
the time. Dr. Lees took the total abstinence 
side of the question and so ably conducted his 
case that public opinion accorded him a victory. 

" The British and Foreign Association for the 



268 TOTAL ABSTINENCE IK 

Suppression of Intemperance" was organized 
about 1840. The Earl of Stanhope was its first 
president. This association was not a total ab- 
stinence society, but accomplished good work by 
sending agents and lecturers all over Great Britain 
to excite an interest in the cause of temperance. 
" The New British Association " of which William 
Junson, Jr., Esq., was first president, was organ- 
ized about the same time on the basis of the 
American pledge. The difl'erence between the 
two societies was in the nature of the pledge. In 
the former members might provide liquors for* 
guests, while they were bound to personal absti- 
nence. It was a concession to the customs of so- 
ciety which many repudiated. The latter associa- 
tion's members took a pledge to neither sell nor 
give away intoxicating liquors, and hence were 
called a total abstinence society. Both these so- 
cieties were dissolved in 1842 in order to form the 
" National Temperance Society. " 

It would be improper to leave this period with- 
out alluding to the work undertaken by the Hon. 
James Silk Buckingham, M. P., of Sheffield. Mr. 
Buckingham was an ardent temperance man, and 
as far back as 1834 he introduced into the British 
parliament a bill requiring the appointment of a 
committee of "Inquiry into the extent and efi'ects 
of the use of intoxicating liquors in Great 
Britain." The government opposed this measure, 
but on a division he defeated the government 
and the committee was appointed. It was called 



GEEAT BEITAIlsr AND lEELAl^D. 269 

'^ Buckingham's Drunken Committee," in de- 
rision. But the committee went to work in good 
earnest and collected a mass of statistics that 
startled the public and was invaluable as a store 
of facts from which temperance agitators drew 
arguments for some years afterward. 

. For a period of fourteen years the battles of 
temperance were fought on British soil. In those 
years much had been accomplished. Popular 
agitation had diffused knowledge and the public 
conscience had been quickened. The cause had 
been strengthened by the accession of a number 
of the oldest noble families, and many of the 
politicians and scientific men of the nation had 
espoused the cause. 

The course of the movement was not greatly 
different from the course taken by the cause in 
this country. Thousands upon thousands had 
been temporarily rescued, and then relapsed. 
The traffic continued without abatement. A sen- 
timent in favor of legislation to restrict the liquor 
traffic began to be developed among the temper- 
ance societies. Advanced ground in this ques- 
tion was assumed by many distinguished Britons. 
On the first day of June, 1853, was organized at 
Manchester the "United Kingdom Temperance 
Alliance." The first president — and indeed, we 
believe the Alliance has never had any other — 
was Sir Walter Trevelyan, bart., M. P. The 
avowed object of this organization is the restric- 
tion of the liquor traffic by law. Nor was this 



270 TOTAL ABSTINENCE IN 

all. The Alliance has undertaken the herculean 
task of elevating the whole tone of public opinion 
in relation to the terrible effects of the traffic, and 
its concomitant, drunkenness. The last reports 
show that this organization has steadily advanced 
in power and inHuence, having now more than 
one hundred and twenty-live thousand members 
enrolled in the three kingdoms. Among those 
in affiliation with this organization are some of 
the most distinguished men of Great Britain. 
From that time on the temperance cause has 
steadily gained in England, Ireland, and Scot- 
land. Men of wealth came forward and made 
liberal donations. Amons: those who acted out 
his philanthropic impulses was Mr. Joseph Eaton, 
a wealthy gentleman of Bristol, who died in 1859, 
bequeathing in his will an amount equal to $80,- 
000 to three temperance organizations. Alto- 
gether, the benefactions of this noble man 
amounted to about $120,000. 

In 1862, through the exertions of Sir John 
Forbes and the renowned Drs. Carpenter and 
Gruy, a petition setting forth the evils inflicted on 
the public health by the use of alcoholic drinks, 
signed by two thousand members of the medical 
profession in England, Ireland, Scotland and In- 
dia, was presented to parliament. The good 
effects hoped for from this petition were partly 
counteracted by the opposition of Dr. Todd of 
King's College, who had become an advocate of 
the theory of alcoholic stimulation. 



GEE AT BEITAIN AND IRELAND. 271 

In England there are numerous temperance or- 
ganizations, besides those we have named, of 
which more hereafter. 

In Ireland the position assumed by a man so 
distinguished as Dr. Cheyne of Dublin, could not 
be without effect. This eminent medical practi- 
tioner was an able and uncompromising enemy to 
alcoholics, and wrote strongly in favor of absten- 
tion. There the work advanced satisfactorily 
under the leadership of such men as Mr. J. 
Haughton, Father Spratt, Rev., Dr. Morgan, and 
Dr. Cheyne. Mrs. Carlile, of Dublin, has also 
proved an indefatigble worker among the chil- 
dren, and has done great good by organizing 
hundreds of Bands of Hope. 

The temperance cause in Scotland has stead- 
ily advanced. Mr. Dunlop has a host of allies 
there now. The Church of Scotland Temperance 
League, the Free Church Temperance Association, 
and many other local societies, are carrying on 
the work with zeal and success. 

Sir Wilfrid Lawson, M. P., the "courageous 
knight of the Alliance," whose "Permissive 
Bill " for regulating the liquor traffic has been 
persistently pressed in parliament for the past 
six or seven years, is still full" of courage and 
zeal. The cause, too, appears to be gaining. 
They have been having an animated campaign 
over there for some time. Sir Wilfrid Lawson, 
Sir David Wedderburne, Sir Thomas Bazley, Sir 
JohnF. Davis, M. P., Hon. John Crossley, M. P., 



272 TOTAL ABSTIIS'EIS'CE IN 

Hon. Benjamin Whitwortli, M. P., and Sir Har- 
court Johnstone, M. P., and other distinguished 
men, have resorted to the hustings to advocate 
the measure before the people. 

A great meeting was held in the Albert Hall, 
Nottingham, I^ovember 21, 1877, at which Alder- 
man Grilpin presided and Sir Wilfrid Lawson de- 
livered a lengthy address. The Nottingham 
member, Hon. Saul Isaac, who was standing for 
reelection, could not meet the baronet on account 
of a pressing engagement in London. Hence 
Sir Wilfrid, who appeared as an opponent of Mr. 
Saul Isaac's return to a seat in parliament, had 
the audience to himself. Indeed, it was a "Per- 
missive Bill " meeting, as it turned out. ISTo 
apology is necessary for quoting at length from 
the speech of Sir Wilfrid Lawson on that occa- 
sion. It illustrates, to some extent, the status of 
the temperance movement in England, and it also 
shows how bold on such issues a distinguished 
English politician may be. Our country would 
not suffer anything by such men in congress and 
other high places. The following extract shows 
the style of Sir Wilfrid in a serious vein : 

I look upon the licensing day as the time when 
the magistrates are sowing the seed for a crop 
which is reaped the remainder of the twelve 
months. You cannot sow seed without reaping 
a crop. That is a law of nature, and the crop is 
speedily brought to perfection. The rates are 
increased, the police rates are heavier, crime and 
drunkenness and immorality are increased, and 



GEEAT BElTAm AKB IRELAND. 273 

the workliouse, the gaol and the lunatic asylum 
are steadily filled by the crop which has sprung 
up from the seed which the magistrates have 
sown on the licensing days. But, sir, that is not 
all. We see the people going to gaol, we see the 
workhouses crowded, we see the poor inmates of 
the lunatic asylums ; but there is something 
worse than that. We do not see the homes where 
these people come from ; we do not see the 
starvation, and the misery, and the destruction of 
all home ties, and the curse which this drink is 
in every home. We talk about the happy homes 
of England; but Mr. Charles Buxton, in that very 
article which I have mentioned to you, says he 
believes that through the drinking habits of its 
people there are half a million homes in Great 
Britain where happiness never comes. But, 
putting aside all that misery, I think it would be 
a great political question if it was only the 
amount of expenditure which it involves which 
we have absolutely to pay for this drinking 
which exists — I do not mean the £140,000,000 
which the people of this country spend during 
the year on drinking, but what we have to pay 
for poor rates, and lunacy rates, and police 
rates, which, as we all know, would be reduced 
immeasurably if it were not for all this drinking. 
And when we think of that, I say that this ques- 
tion of how are we to deal with the liquor traffic 
is a great national question — far above any fac- 
tion fight, far above any question of the rise or 
fall of a ministry, far above all party action or 
sectarian strife. It is a question, I am convinced 
as surely as I stand here, upon the right settle- 
ment of which the future greatness and happi- 
ness of this country depend. I do not want to 
talk here as a bigot, or to say that we are right 



274 TOTAL ABSTINENCE IK 

and every body else is wrong, What I say is 
that the plan which I will a little more unfold to 
you before I conclude, that plan which we ad- 
vocate, is at any rate worth trying. I was 
struck by a remark which the new Bishop of 
Rochester made the other day in addressing his 
clergy. I think he was advocating teetotalism — 
urging the clergy to follow his own example, for 
he is a teetotaler. Waxing warm with his sub- 
ject he said, ''Gentlemen, do not be guided by 
me if you do not think it the best plan, but for 
God's sake let us do something.'^ I believe that 
is the frame of mind in which many are now 
finding themselves. It is worth while doing 
something. This great country of ours — Eng- 
land — with her free institutions, her great 
resources, her industrious and hardy people, 
might be in a position such as no country of the 
world has ever yet attained, if we could but get 
rid of this one curse on our institutions. It is of 
no use, however, getting impatient and being 
annoyed that things do not march so fast as we 
could wish. England is the most Conservative 
nation in the world, in my opinion. I am not 
running down Conservatives. We know no 
party. But I mean Conservative in the sense of 
being unwilling to change, even when change is 
clearly pointed out as a necessity. Supposing 
anybody were to go to the House of Commons 
now and propose the Maine Law — wiiich is, that 
the sale of this drink, which maddens and 
degrades the people, should be entirely prohibit- 
ed throughout the country — he would get no sup- 
port at all ; he would be looked upon as a ma- 
niac for bringing in the Maine Law. England is 
not ripe for it ; but I say distinctly in the pres- 
ence of this audience, that if we could pass such 



GBEAT BEITAIK AND IRELAND. 275 

a law and carry it out, it would be the best thing 
possible for this country. ''Ah," somebody says, 
"there, he is fanatic after all ! " Well, I am a 
fanatic in good company. What did tjie Tlraes 
newspaper say not so many years ago ? — and I 
am sure the Times newspaper is not written by 
fanatics. It said: "No way so rapid to increase 
the wealth of nations and the morality of society 
as the utter annihilation of the manufacture of 
-ardent spirits, constituting, as they do, an in- 
finite waste and an unmixed evil." Do you 
know that that has been proved to be true? 
During the last century there was great poverty 
in Ireland. The Legislature stepped in and 
absolutely prohibited the manufacture of spirits 
by the distillers. And then, in a time of high 
provisions and scarcity, and almost famine, a 
change so marvelous, and almost miraculous, 
was seen, that in the course of a few months the 
people were better off than they were in the 
good times, because the manufacture of these 
spirits was prohibited. Well, but if I were to 
go up to the House of Commons and propose a 
law stopping all the distilleries, putting out all 
the fires, and preventing them from sending out 
this fiery drink, I should be laughed to scorn. 
I had 100 men to support the Permissive Bill ; I 
should not have ten to support that, although it 
would be a capital measure, and I would bring 
it in to-morrow if I thought it would be sup- 
ported. 

The United Kingdom Temperance Alliance num- 
bers among its officers some of the greatest men 
in England. And what is its object? " To pro- 
cure the total and immediate legislative suppres- 
sion of the traffic in all* intoxicating liquors." 



276 TOTAL ABSTrN'EKCE IK 

The officers for the year 1877 were the follow- 
ing: 

President— ^iic Walter C. Trevelyan, Bart., 
M. P. 
Vice-Presidents — 

Sir Wilfrid Lawson, Bart., M. P., Brayton 
Hall, Carlisle. 

His Eminence Cardinal Archbishop Manning. 

The Most Noble Marquis Townshend. 

Right Hon. Lord Claud Hamilton. 

Kight Rev. Bishop Abraham. 

Colonel Sir G. B. Pechell, Bart., Alton. 

Sir John F. Davis, Bart., K. C. B., Bristol. 

Sir Thomas Bazley, Bart., M. P., Manchester. 

M. P. Dal way, Esq., M. P., Carrickfergus. 

The Yery Rev. F. Close, D. D., Dean of Car- 
lisle. 

Joseph Cowen, Esq., M. P., N"ewcastle-on-Tyne. 

Frederick Schwann, sen., Esq., London. 

The Rev. William M'Kerrow, D. D., Bowdon. 

John Hope, Esq., W. S., Edinburgh. 

Edward Backhouse, Esq., Sunderland. 

John Cadbury, Esq., Birmingham. 

Peter Spence, Esq., J. P., F. C. S., F. S. A., 
Manchester. 

Charles Jupe, Esq., Mere, Wilts. 

The Rev. G. T. Fox, M. A., Durham. 

The Rev. Prebendary Yenn, Hereford. 

Joseph Crook, Esq., J. P., Bolton. 

Edward Yivian, Esq., J. P., M. A., Torquay. 

Thomas Watson, Esq., J. P., Rochdale. 



GEE AT BRITAIN AND IRELAND. 277 

Benjamin WMtworfch, Esq., M. P., Manches- 
ter. 

Edward Pease, Esq., Darlington. 

Rev. William Arthur, M. A., ex-President Wes- 
leyan Conference. 

And seventy -five others equally distinguished. 
Mr. Thomas H. Barker, of Manchester, is secre- 
tary. Hon. Benjamin Whitworth, M. P., of Man- 
chester, is chairman of the executive committee. 

There is ground for rejoicing at the prospects 
now opening before the temperance leaders and 
workers of Great Britain and Ireland. 

Mr. William Hussey, secretary of the South of 
Ireland Temperance League, writes : 

It is a source of satisfaction to me that during 
the past year,even in this distant field,I have been 
permitted by personal exertion to aid the cause of 
permissive prohibition, both by advocacy and in 
electoral contests. I doubt not we shall be able 
to achieve still more for the cause in the south of 
Ireland in the future. The victory at Limerick, 
planned and carried out in connection with the 
South of Ireland Temperance League, is one of 
the greatest triumphs yet scored for Sunday 
closing and temperance politics in Ireland. It 
has inflicted such a blow on the liquor interest in 
that city as it has never received since tlie days 
of Father Mathew, and one we shall improve 
upon. 

The practical British mind has seized upon a 
valuable method of establishing a propaganda of 
temperance. The following excerpt from the 
Bolton Evening JVews of November 27, 1877, de- 



278 TOTAL abstiite:n"ce in 

scribes the opening of a place belonging to a class 

of houses of which there are at present hundreds 

in English cities and towns : 

The first of a new style of public house was 
inaugurated on the evening of the twenty-sixth 
by his Worship the Mayor (Alderman Green- 
halgh) ; it is a gin palace minus the gin — a public 
house without intoxicating drinks, where, in the 
language of a well-known poet, cups may be had 
which cheer but do not inebriate. The insti- 
tution has been opened in Higher Bridge street, 
occupying part of the new building comprising 
the offices of Barlow and Jones, Limited, and in 
recognition of the prominent interest which Mr. 
Barlow has taken in the movement, and the 
active exertions made by him in promoting the 
efi*ort5 the place is called "Barlow Arms." This 
coffee-cocoa-and-tea tavern is part of a system- 
atic attempt to work out a great philanthropic 
reform on business principles. Numerous public 
houses of this class have been opened in Liver- 
pool and Manchester, and succeed commercially, 
proving, what has often been said, that working 
men care less for intoxicating liquors than for 
company, recreation and amusements. And we 
see no reason why such institutions may not 
succeed in Bolton. The " Barlow Arms" has all 
the attractions of an ordinary public house ; it 
has clean, airy, light and comfortable rooms, 
everything, except that instead of ale and porter 
and other strong drinks, there are cocoa, cofiee 
and tea, with meat pies, sandwiches, etc., all 
offered at prices surprisingly low. We cordially 
unite with the mayor, the Rev. J. S. Birley, and 
other gentlemen who took part in the ceremony, 
in wishing " success to the B^rlpw Arms," 



GREAT BRTTAIIT A1^T> lEELAKD. 279 

In Scotland, institutions similar to the " Bar- 
low Arms" of Bolton have been opened in Glas- 
gow, Paisley, Edinburgh and Inverness. In 
England there are numerous such places in Liv- 
erpool, Bristol, Leeds, Hastings, Sheffield, Bir- 
mingham, Nottingham, and other cities. Ireland 
has them at Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Belfast, 
"Waterford, Londonderry, and elsewhere. These 
temperance saloons are found to be very valuable 
auxiliaries in promoting the cause of temperance. 
The coffee houses where no strong drink is sold 
are quite as well patronized as the wine houses, 
but with this difference — the patrons do not spend 
as much money. Then certainly it is to the in- 
terest of workingmen to patronize the coffee 
house, because they go home sober, feel better, 
and carry more money with them when they do 

go. 

In addition to the societies already mentioned, 
there are the National Temperance League, with 
headquarters in London; British Temperance 
League, Bolton ; Scottish Temperance League, 
Glasgow ; Irish Temperance League, Belfast. 
There are also numerous temperance orders, the 
chief among which are the Rechabites, Sons of 
Temperance, Good Templars, United Temperance 
Order, United Kingdom Band of Hope Union and 
the Juvenile Templars. There are besides per- 
haps more than a hundred local organizations. 
These societies are all total abstinence orders 
and associatioiis. Connected with the religious 



280 TOTAL ABSTII^ENOE. 

denominations there are a number of temperance 
organizations. The chief among these are the 
Chnrch of England Temperance Society, the 
Congregationalist Temperance Union, the Bap- 
tist Temperance League, Irish Presbyterian 
Temperance Society, tlie Free Kirk Temperance 
Alliance; and the Synod of the Irish Episcopal 
church has an organization similar to that of 
the Church of England Temperance Society. 

The London Temperance Hospital and the 
Medical Temperance Association represent the 
medical profession in the temperance move- 
ment. 

The political phases, as we have seen, are re- 
presented by the United Kingdom Alliance for 
the legislative suppression of the liquor traffic, 
the Scottish Permissive Bill Association, the 
Irish Sunday Closing Association, and numer- 
ous others. There are now more than one million 
of men enrolled in temperance societies in Eng- 
land, Ireland, Scotland and Wales, and still the 
work is going on. 



CHAPTEE XYIII. 

THE WOMEITS' TEMPERANCE CRUSADE. 

The temperance sentiment liad expanded and 
taken deep rootan t'he popular mind in the years 
preceeding 1861. The commencement of the 
fierce conflict of arms between the North and the 
South was the beginning of disasters to the cause 
of temperance. In the Southern states many 
flourishing organizations were swept out of ex- 
istence, and those which still maintained a feeble 
life were paralyzed for good. Nor was the 
situation much better in the Northern states. 
The splendid victories which had been gained 
over intemperance by thousands of men, were 
practically turned into defeat after the influence 
of camp life had time to produce its legitimate 
efi'ects. The excitement attendant upon the en- 
listment and organization of armies, the break- 
ing up of social and family ties, the general re- 
laxation in the moral tone of the people, all had 
a tendency to operate directly adverse to the 
progress of temperance sentiments. Nor do we 
need to take time in searching for the cause of 
this condition of society during the continuance 



282 THE women's 

of a state of warfare. It is evident to all wlio 
have observed the effects of tlie environments of 
camp life on the morals and manners of men, 
that the quick sense of delicacy and refinement 
is greatly diminished, if not lost altogether. In 
the midst of hurried and paroxysmal war, officers 
and men lose that unbending moral attitude 
which is so essential to a well ordered society, 
and which pride and self-respect impose upon 
them in civil life. Touching this question. Dr. 
McKinley has given expression to the following 
forcible statement in regard to the evils inflicted 
on this country by the war. " The late war, the fog 
of which has not yet ceased to dim the political 
atmosphere, has caused the sacrifice of more lives 
from the profiigacy it engendered since its close, 
than were killed by the bullet during its ex- 
istence." 

However necessary the war may have been 
deemed, and however much good may have been 
derived from it otherwise, the evil which it left 
in its wake cannot be forgotten or ignored by the 
scientific statistician or gleaner of facts through 
the cold, clear and disinterested eye of inquiry. 
The common tendencies to the cultivation of 
drinking dissipation in the late war by the private 
soldier have been greatly augmented in the exam- 
ples lent to it by our more illustrious military 
chieftains. Influenced by the examples furnished 
in. the persons of generals more or less 
prominent, the private soldier felt himself 



TEMPERANCE CRUSADE. 283 

more fully warranted in the indulgence of 
a course of intemperate drinking profligacy, 
which since the close of the conflict has 
hurried him to the convict's cell, or forced him 
to the platform of the gallows, or if not there, 
then to the unhallowed grave of the drunkard. 

Continuing to practice after his return, the sol- 
dier has cultivated by his example the same 
habits in those whose age precluded the possibil- 
ity of their participation in the life of the camp. 
So the cause of temperance had suffered, and 
happy homes were being desolated, and wretch- 
edness, poverty and woe were spreading all over 
the land. Strong men were being overthrown and 
hurled down to the pit by thousands. Devoted 
women were nursing their unutterable sorrows 
in silence for the sake of their loved ones ; 
and all this suffering was caused by the " ac- 
cursed beverage of hell !" * 

And the mothers and daughters and wives 
and sisters grieved, as only women can grieve, 
over their fallen husbands, fathers, sons and 
brothers. Saloons multiplied ; the habits of the 
people had undergone a change — and that not 
for the better. In the deep a^ony of their souls 
Christian women cried mightily to God for help 
in their time of sorest need. Sighs and tears 
testified to the heart's deep distress. The land 
was filled with the wails of sorrow wrung from 
suffering, helpless women. And what could they 
do to arrest the billows of ruin rolling over the 



284 THE WOMEN^S 

country ? "What efforts conld tliey make to save 
the objects of their tender affection from heing 
stranded ? Were they not all the while suffering 
for them ? Were they not trying, by every arti- 
fice which love could suggest, to win them back 
to the path of honor through temperance and 
fidelity ? Could they legislate to banish the 
enemy which was trampling over all the good in- 
tentions of their natural protectors ? Then in 
heaven's name what could they do ? Pray? Yes, 
they could pray. They could appeal to a power 
higher than that of earthly rulers ; they could 
enter within the inner temple, and bring the rich 
sacrificial offering of unquestioning faith ; they 
could lay their cause before the Supreme Ruler 
of the Universe, and, relying u|)on His love and 
mercy, they could plead His promise to the 
faithful, and petition for its fulfillment. This 
they could do, and this they did. 

The temperance movement known as the "Wo- 
mens' Crusade" was a phenomenon in the his- 
tory of our country. It was one of the most re- 
markable uprisings against a giant evil ever 
witnessed in any country. Commencing at the 
obscure village of Hillsboro', Ohio, it soon 
extended all over the great state ; spread into 
Indiana ; invaded Illinois ; penetrated Iowa, and 
swept over j)arts of other states. It created a 
profound interest in the temperance question all 
over the United States and across the border in 
the Dominion of Canada, and even excited atten- 



TEMPEEANCE CKUSADE. 285 

tion beyond the Atlantic Ocean, in England, Ire- 
land and Scotland. Never, at any period of our 
country's history, had there been more urgent 
need of a profound awakening of the public 
conscience concerning the frightful ravages of 
the demon of strong drink. True, it was not a 
pioneer work. The groand had been cleared and 
the seeds of the temperance reformation had 
been sowed years before. But the tares were 
sown, had come up and flourished and over- 
shadowed the true wheat while the husbandman 
was pursuing the enemy, besieging fortresses 
and cities. But now the alarm was given and 
the old veterans who had toiled long and arduous- 
ly in preparing the soil and planting and culti- 
vating the crop, rushed to the protection of their 
inheritance to secure the harvest of their sow- 
ing. Gough was still in the vigor of manhood, 
and still carried the scythe of his matchless elo- 
quence to cut down the noxious growtli cumber- 
ing the fields in which he had expended so much 
labor. 

And there were others still alive who had 
toiled in the years before the war. They were 
such men as Theodore L. Cuyler, Dr. Charles 
Jewett, William E. Dodge, Peter Carter, Edward 
Carswell, Robert M. Foust, J. B. Wakeley, 
that noble veteran father, Thomas P. Hunt, and 
some hundreds of others, whose hope respecting 
the ultimate triumph of tlit3 principles of temper- 
ance never expired. These had always been 



286 THEWOMET^'S 

effective laborers in the moral vineyard in "behalf 
of temperance. They were strong men in coun- 
cil and mighty men in action. 

But the crusading movement seemed not to 
depend on the counsels of the wise ones of earth 
or on the puny arm of human strength for suc- 
cess. With the strong faith characteristic of 
their sex, the women went forth on their mission 
relying upon Jehovah and the power of the 
Spirit to conquer a terrible enemy. On them 
had fallen the burden of sorrow caused by the 
wide-spread prevalence of intemperance, and in 
Christ's name they went out to battle with the 
giant evil that had grown up in the land. 

It is related in the pages of sacred history that 
the walls of Jericho crumbled at the prolonged 
blasts of the ram's horn trumpets of the musi- 
cians of the hosts of Israel. The strong defenses 
of a more subtle and dangerous enemy than de- 
fended the walls of Jericho were destined to dis- 
solve before the sweet anthems of woman's 
voices wafted to heaven, and before the power 
of prayer to Almighty God. 

Long had they sustained the burden of the 
curse of intemperance. They could sustain it no 
longer. And they besought the Lord continual- 
ly in prayers, knowing that "the fear of man 
bringeth a snare ; but whosoever putteth trust 
in the Lord shall be safe." 

It would require the space of a volume to go 
into a detailed history of the Women's Temper- 



TEMPEKANCE CEUSADE. 287 

ance Crusade. But any work treating on tlie 
subject of the temperance movement would Ibe 
incomplete without some account of that re- 
markable uprising. ''Mother" Stewart, Mrs. J. 
H. Thompson, Mrs. Runyan, Mi^s Frances E. 
Willard, Mrs. Sarah K. Bolton, Miss Emma 
Grand- Girard, Miss Kate Dwyer, Mrs. Annie 
Wittenmeyer, Mrs. Mary T. Burt, Mrs. Jennie F. 
Willing, Mrs. Mary C. Johnson and others, have 
made a record which puts to shame all the cyni- 
cal flings at "woman's faith and woman's trust." 

Hillsboro', the seat of justice of Highland 
county, Ohio, where the women's temperance 
crusade was first organized, until toward the 
close of 1873 was an obscure village which at- 
tracted little attention from the outside world. 
It was not a place from which such a radical 
movement might be expected to start. The in- 
habitants were principally from Virginia, and 
^were noted for a sort of aristocratic conservatism. 
The old style of living, with the ancient cus- 
toms of the state from whence they came, in- 
cluding the side-board and decanters, were still 
retained among the wealthy gentlemen of Hills- 
boro'. 

On the evening of December 22nd, 1873, Dr. Dio 
Lewis, who had been engaged to deliver his 
lecture, "Our Girls," appeared at the Music hall 
in that town. He had observed that the town 
appeared to be well supplied with saloons, 
and that the citizens of Hillsboro' practised 



2B8 THE women's 

liquor drinking in an nnusnal degree. At tlie 
conclusion of his lecture Dr. Lewis spoke of 
tlie great evils of intemperance, and announced 
that lie would speak on thafc su"bject to 'those 
who might choose to come and hear him the fol- 
lowing evening 

When the next night arrived, Dr. Lewis found 
a large audience to greet him. He made a stir- 
ring speech, and in it related how the women of 
a New England village had driven out whisky 
by visitations to the saloons, and prayers offered 
in the precincts of the liquor- seller's domiciles. 
He suggested some such plan for the extirpation 
of the traffic in Hillshoro'. The audience had 
been aroused, and the plan suggested met with 
popular approval. By an emphatic vote it was 
resolved to try the plan. Seventy-five ladies 
enlisted at once for the service. A committee 
was appointed to write an appeal to tlie liquor- 
sellers. The pastors of the churches endorsed 
the movement, and other citizens came forward 
in support of the measure. Then they voted to 
meet next day at the Presbyterian church, and 
adjourned. 

On Christmas Eve, 1873. the ladies of Hills- 
boro' met according to compact. There were 
more than a hundred of them present. At that 
meeting the crusading band, and all other ladies 
who had espoused the cause, covenanted together 
to persist, with God's help, until the last " whisky 
shop" in Hillsboro' closed. The organization 



TEMPEEA]N"CE CKUSADE. 289 

• 

was perfected, and it was agreed that on the fol- 
lowing morning the crusading band should 
march, 

Christmas morning, at the tap of a hell, the 
ladies marched out. An earnest appeal, setting 
forth the evils of intemperanc(^ and the demoral- 
izing eifects of the liquor-trafRc, and addressed 
to the liquor-sellers of Hillsboro', was printed 
and ready for distribution. The ladies paid their 
respects first to the druggists. Two of them took 
the druggists' pledge not to sell or give away in- 
toxicating liquors, unless the applicant Lad a 
prescription from a physician. Another, a physi- 
cian and an elder of the Presbyterian church, 
agreed to sign it with the proviso that he should 
be permitted to sell liquors on his own prescrip- 
tions. The fourth one, who was destined to at- 
tain some notoriety, refused to take the pledge. 
This man afterward resorted to the courts, and 
obtained a temporary injunction on application 
to one Judge Safford of the Probate court, 
against a number of the ladies of Hillsboro'. But 
Judge Smith, of the court of Common Pleas, sub- 
sequently dissolvedthe injunction, and the drug- 
gist, W. H. H. Dunn, was again left to the pray- 
erful attentions of the ladies. For forty days 
they kept up the crusade in Hillsboro\ Through 
the intense cold of winter, and amid the driving 
snow storms, these devoted women, led by 
Mesdames Scott, Grim, Trimble, Sams, Misses 
Grand-Girardj Dill, Stewart, and others, pursued 



290 THE women's 

« 

their olbject. By tlie first of Fe"bruarj, out of 
eleven saloons and four drug stores, only three 
saloons and one drug store where liquors were 
sold remained in Hillshoro'. 

Washington Court-House, a village of some 
three thousand in the neighboring county of 
Fayette, was awakened within a few days after 
the commencement of the crusade at Hillshoro'. 

At this place, Mrs. J. H. Thompson, a daughter 
of ex-Governor Allen Trimble, was chief among 
the praying women. The same plan pursued by 
the ladies of Hillsboro' was adopted by the ladies 
of "Washington Court House. Day after day the 
women marched out on their mission to the 
saloons. One after another of those who sold 
whisky surrendered and took the pledge. In 
twenty days the victory was complete. There 
was not a single dramshop at Washington Court 
House. A guard was kept to prevent any one 
from surreptitiously introducing it again. Some 
of the ancient topers became very dry after a 
while, and induced a young man, Jiamed Pass- 
more, to come on from Cincinnati with a stock of 
liquors. He came and opened out. The alarm 
bell was sounded, the women came together and 
at once marched to meet the enemy. Passmore 
received them politely. After two or three days 
he inquired how long they expected to keep that 
thing up. They replied : " Just so long as you 
attempt to sell whisky in this place." The young 
Cincinnatian concluded to discontinue the busi- 



TEMPERANCE CRUSADE. 291 

ness, packed up Ms stock and sMpped it back to 
Cincinnati, to wMch city lie purchased a ticket 
and departed from Washington Court-House, to 
return no more. • 

Wilmington, a flourishing place in Clinton 
county, was next the scene of the labors of the 
praying bands of women. At this place Mrs. 
Runyan, wife of the Methodist minister,and Mrs. 
Hadley, a soft spoken, but resolute Quaker lady, 
were the leaders. The campaign was brief and 
spirited. The conquest was complete. Every 
saloon in Wilmington was closed at the end of 
ten days. 

JSTew Vienna, a small railroad town a few miles 
from Wilmington, was destined to pass into his- 
tory as the scene of one of the greatest victories 
achieved by the crusaders. 

At that time there was a low drinking place, 
usually called the ^'Dead Fall," in New Vienna, 
kept by a man who had already acquired some 
notoriety as a rough character. This man, whose 
name was John Calvin Van Pelt, was destined 
to acquire more than a local notoriety in connec- 
tion with the Women's Temperance Crusade 
movement. When the praying women came 
first to visit him he denied them admission and 
threatened with violence any who should attempt 
to enter his place. While the women prayed on 
the outside. Van Pelt served a crowd of his 
roughest customers with liquor inside his place. 
The next day the women went again and then 



292 THE women's 

Yan Pelt a2:reed to admit them on the condition 
that they would allow him to offer every altern- 
ate prayer. ;Not thinking he would dare to do 
such a thing, thsy agreed. They sang and then a 
lady offered a fervent prayer. Then it came Yan 
Pelt's turn. To the horror of the pious women, 
he commenced a long mock prayer. Before the 
crusaders left he had offered three such prayers. 
The next day he had the boldness to go to the 
meeting-house where the women were assembled 
and argue the question with them. It became 
monotonous to Yan Pelt — this constant singing 
and praying about his place — and he resolved to 
stop it. One day when the ladies were engaged in 
prayer in his saloon, and just as the leader was 
giving utterance to the desire of their hearts that 
the hardened man might be baptized with the 
Holy Ghost, Yan Pelt seized a bucket of slops 
from under the bar, and throwing the contents 
up against the ceiling, it poured down in streams 
over the kneeling women. This he continued to 
do until they were completely doused with beer- 
slops. For this he was arrested and confined in 
jail for several days, being unable to give bail. 
His brother, an equally hardened man, officiated 
in the saloon. The women continued their daily 
services. In course of time Yan Pelt was re- 
leased. His incarceration seemed only to have 
made him more resolute in resistance to the de- 
mands of the women. He argued, threatened 
and stormed, but the resolute women through 



^EKPEEAlS^CE CKtJSABE. 295 

those cold winter days continued their efforts. 
After a protracted siege, Van Pelt's powers of 
resistance gave way. First, lie tried to sell out 
and leave the place forever. From live hundred 
dollars, his first price, he came down to ninety 
dollars — the exact amount of his legal expenses. 
Some of the women favored accepting the propo- 
sition. But at last it was not acceded to, and 
the siege went on a few days longer. One day 
he told them to go away and come hack at 2 
o'clock in the afternoon and he would make 
known his purpose. The ladies went away. Be- 
fore noon it was rumored through the town that 
Yan Pelt was going to surrender. At 12 o'clock 
the church bells were rung and the whole popu- 
lation of the village came together. A proces- 
sion was formed and the line of march was 
taken up toward Yan Pelt's ''Dead Fall." He 
received them, made a little speech to the ladies, 
told how he had come to the conviction that he 
was engaged in an awful business ; then he took 
up an axe and commenced to smash in the heads 
of the barr^s of liquor which had been rolled 
out. 

In less than three weeks this man, who had 
acquired the title of '' the wickedest man in 
Ohio," was on the platform as a temperance 
lecturer. 

The movement had now acquired a tremendous 
momentum. Yillage after vilhige was conquered. 
Morrow, Greenfield, and twenty other places fol- 



296 THE W0ME]S"'S 

lowed. Then the crusaders organized for a con- 
flict with the liquor sellers of Xenia, a large 
place with many saloons. It was their first ven- 
ture against the strongholds of the liquor interests 
in the cities. They were successful. Xenia was 
captured after a brief but exciting campaign. 

By this time the whole state of Ohio was in a 
ferment. The crusading spirit was marching 
on. Columbus, the capital, was assailed and 
signal triumphs gained. That city was largely 
under the influence of the whisky interests. But 
in no part of the country were the crusaders 
more in earnest or better organized, and they 
were in a measure successful. 

At Springfield an efl*ort was made to accom- 
plish something, but there never was any great 
amount of enthusiasm enlisted in the movement 
there, and the result was not satisfactory. 

The crusaders hesitated to attack the large 
cities. Cincinnati, the seat of an immense liquor 
trade, with its millionaire whisky sellers, and the 
large German element and the beemnterests, was 
regarded as the very stronghold of the demon of 
intemperance. But they did at last commence 
the work. It came near resulting in a riot. The 
mayor forbade the street services, and the move- 
ment gradually ceased to exert an influence or 
even attract attention. 

In Cleveland a more earnest effort was made. 
Some success attended it. But the threatening 
attitude of the whisky sellers, and the danger of 



TEMPEEANCE CRUSADE. 297 

riot, induced the mayor to issue a proclamation 
wliicli might have proceeded from a priestess of 
Delphos, so far as it was a revelation of his 
honor's intentions. It served, however, to inter- 
fere with the plan of compaign adopted by the 
crusading bands, and so, after a brave effort, 
Cleveland was given up. 

The movement spread westward. The towns 
and cities of Indiana were made to feel the effects 
of the great wave of popular interest in the tem- 
perance cause. In Greensburg, Fort Wayne, La- 
fayette, Bloomington, Greenfield, Logansport and 
other places, much good was effected by the zeal 
of the praying women. The popular interest ex- 
cited by the crusades in Ohio and Indiana led to 
a general temperance revival throughout the 
country. In Chicago the Woman's Temperance 
Union was provoked to unusual activity. There 
were visiting committees and special prayer 
meetings in behalf of the temperance cause, and 
all the temperance organizations of the city were 
aroused to an unwonted degree. Miss Frances 
E. Willard became prominent as a leader of the 
temperance cause about this time and rendered 
most excellent service. 

In the smaller cities and towns of Illinois and 
Iowa, and in a few towns of Missouri, active cru- 
sading was organized, aiid from many of them 
the last saloon was banished. 

During the spring and summer of 1874, the 
10 



298 THE women's TEMPERANCE CRUSABEi 

crusading spirit gradually languished, and in the 
autumn all active efforts had entirely ceased. 

Thus had come and passed one of the most re- 
markable popular uprisings in the interest of 
temperance known in the history of the country. 
Many towns had been freed from the presence of 
dramshops, and many thousands had signed the 
pledge to lead sober lives. 

But the results of the women's temperance cru- 
sade of 1874 were not simply the immediate ban- 
ishment of the liquor traffic from more than three 
hundred towns and cities in the northwest, and the 
temporary reclamation of many thousands of alco- 
hol's victims,and the permanent salvation of many 
thousands of others from travelling the drunk- 
ard's road to a dishonored grave. These effects, 
though of an incalculable value, themselves are 
not comparable to the permanent work performed. 
The grand work accomplished by the w^omens' 
crusade was the interest provoked in the discus- 
sion of the subject, and the strengthening of the 
permanent temperance orders, such as the Sons 
of Temperance, the Good Templars, the Tem- 
plars of Honor and the Friends of Temperance. 
Those who conclude that the women's temper- 
ance movement was unproductive of good results 
do not interpret aright the events of their time. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

TRIALS, TRIUMPHS AND DISAPPOINTMEI^rTS. 

The Women's TemDerance Crusade was not 
free from the vicissitudes usually attendant upon 
the execution of great undertakings. The women 
in many places were often made to sufier great 
discomfort, and very frequently were subjected 
to severe trials. It was no enviable task under- 
taken by the women of America to go forth on that 
mission to redeem men from the slavery of strong 
drink. They had trials of their courage and 
faith in the disappointments which they were 
called upon to encounter. Sometimes they were 
almost forced to the very verge of despair by the 
obstinacy and hardened nature of those they 
were called upon to encounter. At one town in 
Ohio, the ladies laid siege to a "grocery" for a 
period of forty-three days, before the proprietor 
"came down and surrendered." And this pro- 
tracted labor was performed in the midst of win- 
ter, while the snow was deep on the ground and 
the wind blew cold and fierce. Days came when 
all without was dreary and chill ; when the earth 
was covered with slush, and then they went forth 



300 TRIALS, TRIUMPHS 

and endured tlie coM blasts, the jeers of the 
scoffers and the harsh rebukes of the liquor sell- 
ers. But they shrank from no duty imposed up- 
on them. With earnestness and perseverance 
they went on with their work. In some of the 
largest cities, like Cincinnati and Cleveland, the 
roughs collected in great crowds, and threatened 
to use violence toward the fair crusaders. In a 
few instances they were actually hustled with such 
violence that several of them were quite sev'Crely 
hurt. But they went on all the same. If ever 
there were human efforts put forth based solely 
on love on the part of those who went out and 
endured all manner of rebuffs, and suffered the 
contumely of the very ones they sought to assist 
and raise up, it was certainly done by the women 
of the crusade in behalf of temperance. That 
remarkable awakening is worthy to be carefully 
studied. The alternations of hope and fear, the 
burning desire to do good, the dread that all 
efforts might fail, were sensations to which the 
noble spirits engaged in the campaign were not 
strangers. 

The women felt that they could do nothing of 
themselves ; they realized that they were feeble ; 
they knew that in their own strength they could 
not repose confidence. What then should they 
do? They saw the terrible sufferings inflicted 
upon their friends and neighbors all about them ; 
they beheld the desolating effects of strong 
drink everywhere. They looked into homes 



AND DISAPBOINTMENTS. 301 

wMch. were once the abodes of happiness and 
beheld within misery and wretchedness unutter- 
able. They saw their sister women victims of 
.the brutality of those who had sworn to love, 
cherish and protect them. And all this suffer- 
ing had been caused by strong drink. The land 
was filled with pitfalls where loving husbands, 
dutiful sons, affectionate fathers, and warm- 
hearted brothers were converted into monsters 
of vice and beasts in manners. Should the 
mothers and wives, sisters and daughters of our 
country sit down in mute despair, and like the 
captives in eastern harems submit to fate, cry- 
ing, ^'It is the will of Allah ! " N'o, our country- 
women could not do that. They did not, they 
would not believe that so much wickedness was 
in accordance with the will of that God they 
worshiped. 

In proportion to their distrust in their own 
strength, came their trust and coTifidence in the 
might of Divine Power. Their faith was aroused 
and their enthusiasm was kindled into an in- 
extinguishable flame. They believed that God 
would hear their prayers. But men called this 
faith in God fanaticism, and derided the power 
of prayer. Others had been called fanatics; 
others had endured persecutions before them ; 
the divine Teacher of Christianity had received 
buffetings and contumely and at last was nailed 
to the cross, thus suffering an ignominious 
death for the salvation of the world. Could not 



302 TRIALS, TRIUMPHS 

the strong faith with which they were inspired 
support the women while they suffered many 
indignities to save the drunkard ? It was suffi- 
cient. The crusaders went forth in the strength, 
of Jehovah. They believed with all their hearts 
that a supernatural power would manifest itself 
in saving the land from the awful demoralization 
of society — the terrible degradation of its citi- 
zens through the evil power of the passion for 
strong drink. They prayed to God and felt his 
strength nerving them to endure all things for 
His sake and for the sake of those that were 
ready to perish. 

It was to be expected that infidels would scoff 
at this exhibition of faith on the part of the 
women; that they would deride the power of 
prayer. And yet the method adopted by the 
women was more rational than the conclusion of 
unbelievers. 

The women had experienced redeeming grace, 
and they Jknew that the kingdom of God was with- 
in them. The scoffers knew not God and the sav- 
ing power of His grace. It is irrational to conclude 
that because we know nothing of certain things 
or objects they have no existence; that because 
we have not experienced certain sensations there- 
fore no other person has. 

Observation and experience are as necessary 
to a comprehension of religion as of any other 
subject that can be presented to our minds. Is 
it not irrational and absurd to condemn religious 



AND DISAPPOIITTMENTS. 303 

faitli in otliers witliont having sought to expe- 
rience it ? A man who would deny the phenomena 
presented in chemical combinations, without hav- 
ing tested their truth in the laboratory, would be 
deemed a fool. The men who accept the testi- 
mony of others in reference to external things 
deny far more overwhelming testimony regarding 
the things that appear to the spiritual preceptions 
of men. Thousands upon thousands have realized 
the power of God through faith, and they have 
known it and testified concerning that knowledge, 
and men who know nothing concerning such ex- 
perience deny the possibility in the conscious- 
ness of others. Was ever a more absurd position 
assumed by men who claim to be intelligent? 

The jeers and scoffs of the ungodly concerning 
the faith of the women were not only unseemly, 
but clearly indicated the want of intelligence in 
those who engaged in the unmanly business. 

The women of the crusade were actuated by 
love — a divine passion that ascended to heaven 
and laid hold on the conquering source of love, 
and returning to earth, embraced the wide-spread 
mass of wretched humanity. And this love was 
often manifested in a manner which clearly 
points to the source from whence it was derived. 
In the midst of the dreary winter, exposed to its 
pitiless chill, the women showed forth to the 
observer that human feelings were capable of a 
much higher degree of happiness or pleasure 
than any exalted worldly situation can afibrd. 



804 TRIALS, TRIUMPHS 



Certainly their exposure, tlie dreary surroundings, 
the sinister character of those sought to be bene- 
fited, and the abuse heaped upon them as they 
knelt imploring God's mercy upon their abusers, 
were not situations calculated to increase happi- 
ness or induce pleasurable sensations. And yet a 
lady who was one of the band who laid siege to 
a saloon for forty -tliree days in an Ohio town in 
the winter season of 1874, has often declared that 
those were the happiest days of her life. Such 
testimony of experience is worth more than all 
the brilliant theories that philosophy can pro- 
duce. 

But the women crusaders were destined to 
endure trials and suffer disappointments along 
with their enjoyment of triumphs. Sometimes, 
after patient endurance in well-doing for weary 
weeks, they would meet with overwhelming 
defeat, when they believed victory to be just 
within their grasp. 

Such an instance of sudden revulsion happened 
to a band of devoted crusaders in a Michigan 
town. The incident illustrates the gentle 
patience of women under trying circumstances, 
and the malign influence of alcohol in brutaliz- 
ing men. The ladies of this village had gone 
forth with such zeal in the crusade against the 
whisky shops that five out of the six saloons 
and all the druggists surrendered within two 
weeks. The sixth saloon was kept by a man who 
readily admitted the praying band, but gave no 



AND DISAPPOII^TMEITTS. 305 

evidence of weakening. "Week in and week out 
the devoted crusaders laid siege to this fortress 
of sin. Prayers, and songs, and tears, all had 
been vain with this obdurate man. He tired of 
the presence of tlie women at last and refused to 
admit them within his doors. Then the ladies 
went daily to the street in front of his place and 
held their services there. At dark they came 
again and occupied the sidewalk in front of this 
man's pitfall of ruin, where services were held 
up to ten o'clock in the evening. This had been 
going on for some weeks. The proprietor had 
lost his suavity, and now insulted the ladies every 
time they approached his place. No entreaties, no 
tears nor prayers could move him. Still the fair 
crusaders persevered- At last they thought 
there was a gleam of hope. One morning when 
they approached his place, he came out and cor- 
dially invited them to enter the saloon. They 
went through with their usual services and held 
a conversation with the proprietor, who, while 
not expressing the least intention to relent, yet 
by his manners and words left the impression on 
the ladies that he intended to live a better life. 
They were filled with hope, and went away with 
jo3^ful hearts. The saloon keeper had even 
invited them to come again. 

The night following this hopeful day was 
clouded and dark. The unliglited village streets 
presented a dreary and gloomj^ appearance. 
After the brief prayer-meeting at the little church 



306 TEIALS, TRIUMPHS 



the ladies marched out to the post of duty before 
the only remaining fortress held by the dram- 
sellers and defended by the dram-drinkers of the 
village. 

The saloon keeper, as soon as the shades of 
night had fallen, caused some barrels of coal-tar 
to be emptied in front of the door, where he had 
taken up the pavement on pretense of making 
some repairs. Over the tar he caused a nice layer 
of sand to be spread. A sentry was then posted 
to keep off the unwary, and he had invited a 
large number of his customers to come through 
the back door to witness tlie result of his Satanic 
device. Very soon the ladies came. They did 
not perceive the snare laid for them until after 
they had kneeled upon what they supposed to 
be the freshly laid pavement. Then the dis- 
covery was made. But they went on ; a prayer 
was offered and a song was sung, while they 
still knelt. Then began the struggle to extricate 
themselves. They were compelled to leave their 
overshoes and parts of their clothing sticking in 
the tar-pit. While they were employed in freeing 
themselves from their unpleasant predicament, the 
saloon-keeper and a few brutal companions stood 
at the door, hooting and laughing and indulging 
in coarse jests at the expense of the unfortunate 
ladies. The revulsion of feeling must have been 
terrible. But they were ready to endure all things 
for the Master's sake. What did they do ? Fear- 
ing that their male protectors would be arousedto 



AKB DISAPPOINTMENTS. 307 

desperation and might commit some act of vio- 
lence against the saloon-keeper, they agreed to 
say nothing about the matter. And what was 
the result of this hrutal scheme of the dram- sel- 
ler? "The snare of the wicked shall fail." The 
story of his conduct toward the ladies leaked 
out next day, and the husbands, brothers and 
relatives of the ladies so shamefully treated 
were naturally enraged, and coming together they 
were about to proceed to the saloon with the 
avowed intention of treating its proprietor to a 
coat of tar and feathers, and perhaps inflicting 
upon him other punishment. 

The ladies who had suifered from the brutali- 
ty of the man proceeded at once to the saloon 
and warned its proprietor. The enraged men 
came and were met by the pleadings of their in- 
sulted wives, sisters and relatives to spare tlie 
man. When the hardened man saw this exhibi- 
tion of gentleness, forbearance and love on the 
part of these devoted women, he could resist no 
longer. The ladies having triumphed over the 
anger of their male protectors were about to 
achieve a still greater triumph. The angry villa- 
gers at last consented to go away, and then a young 
girl — the pride of the village — was moved to 
offer a prayer in behalf of the saloon keeper. It 
was a gentle, touching plea, from an unsullied 
spirit to the Father of all mercies, to look in pit}^ 
upon the poor man who sold liquors in that place. 
*' O G-od, thou hast the power ; wilt thou not open 



808 TEIALS, TEItJMPHg 

Ms eyes that lie may see; Ms understanding that he 
may know ; and touch his heart that he may feel 
the greatness of Thy mercy, the abounding good- 
ness of Thy compassion, that he may realize the 
enormity of the evil business in which he has en- 
gaged, and cease from it. 0, merciful Father, look 
in tender compassion upon him and upon us all. 
Deal not with us after the manner of our deserts. 
Spare us, and especially, we beseech Thee, spare 
this our brother who hath fallen into the snare; 
lift him out, O God, make his way clear and 
smooth before him." The last tremulous syllable 
of the " amen " died away. The kneeling women 
rose up. The saloon-keeper had sunk down even 
by the barrels which contained the poison he dis- 
pensed, and when he raised his face his cheeks 
were bathed in tears. He rose up. He spoke in 
a trembling, faltering voice. " Ladies," he said, 
"you know how strong a man I am in resolution 
and disposition. I have fought bravely against 
you, and resisted even my own inner convictions. 
Man I can face, and dare even unto death, but I 
cannot resist the power of God's Spirit. With 
equal resolution to my former stubborness, hence- 
forth and forever, while life lasts, I shall fight 
under the banner of temperance for the promo- 
tion of the cause of God. I swear it. Ladies, 
'pray forme." That man is to-day a proclaimer 
of the gospel of peace to mankind. 

We therefore maintain that there is a rationale 
^ for prayer, a power in the appeal to the Almighty, 



AND BISAPPOINTMEKTS. 809 

competent to conquer the world. The Michigan 
saloonist, it is reported, is a Yale alumnus, a man 
of line culture, but infidel in opinion until the 
good God, through the instrumentality of women's 
prayer, converted him. 

It is through struggles that success is achieved; 
it is by agitation that the human race has made 
progress. A condition of life, when no efforts 
are made to change it, is the beginning of decay 
and death. Only by breaking up of long rooted 
customs have new and better habits been estab- 
lished. The one ruling power which directed 
the women on their mission, was also able to 
cause good results to come of their efforts. God 
was appealed to when all expectation of help 
from an earthly source was abandoned. And 
what was the result of the appeal ? 300,000 
druTikards reclaimed ; more than 200,000 of these 
are to-day leading sober and useful lives, per- 
forming the duties of good citizens, and proving 
a blessing to their families and friends. 

But these are not all the good results. The 
agitation caused by the crusaders awakened re- 
flection among the people concerning the great 
curse of the land, which had kindled their zeal 
and raised their thoughts to God. And this 
provocation to investigation has gone on, silently 
evolving conditions of mind favorable to a con- 
tinual growth of temperance sentiment. The 
women's crusade may therefore be regarded as 
preparing the way for the Gospel Temperance 



310 TRIALS, TBltJMPHS 



Reform which is even now sweeping over the 
land. And this phase of the contest with the 
evil habic of indulgence in intoxicants constitutes 
the grand triumph of the crusade movement. It 
is not claimed that the present reform move- 
ment grew directly out of the crusade, but that 
agitation prepared the way for another phase of 
the same general progression toward the estab- 
lishment of temperance as the universal habit of 
all well ordered society. 

Those directly engaged in the crusade doubt- 
less felt sadly disappointed because of local or 
particular failures of their efforts. But the world 
was not made in a day, nor are manners and 
customs hoary with age to be changed in a week, 
a month or a year. 

We have devoted so much space to a consider- 
ation of the rationale of the Women's Temper- 
ance Crusade, to combat a very erroneous notion 
prevalent, not only among those opposed to 
temperance principles, but isome who do not 
allow themselves to be regarded as inimical to 
the cause, who view that awakening as having 
been unproductive of advancement to the cause 
of temperance. It is plain to any one who has 
examined the facts that the women achieved 
great triumphs and permanent results. Of 
course, there were thousands who signed the 
pledge who broke it and relapsed into their old 
habits again. So there were thousands upon 
thousands during the Washingtonian movement 



AND DISAPPOINTMENTS. 311 

who signed the pledge gladly and broke it as 
readily. But during both these great agitations 
there were thousands of others who signed the 
pledge who were permanently reformed. The 
roll of members initiated among the Sons of 
Temperance, the Good Templars, the Rechabites, 
the Templars of Honor and Temperance, and 
other organizations, attest the value of the 
women's movement. 

There are those who think that the reform 
movement, which, in the language of a journal 
devoted to the liquor interests, "has devasted the 
East and swept like a prairie fire over the West- 
ern states," will pass away without lasting 
effects. This is not a just or reasonable view of 
the subject. Every such movement has left last- 
ing marks of its power. No one expects that all 
who attempt a reformation will succeed, because 
they do not always undertake it in the right 
way. And, again, there are a large number of 
persons who sign pledges during the prevalence 
of enthusiastic temperance meetings who have 
no very serious intention of attempting to keep 
their obligations. So it has been, and so it will 
continue to be. But the net results of every 
temperance movement, from the days of Justin 
Edwards and his coadjuters until the present 
time, have been productive of lasting good. 

In the prosecution of an undertaking so vast 
as the revolutionizing of inherited customs, tlie 
growth of many centuries, it would be singular 



312 TEIALS AI^D TEIUMPHS. 

if those engaged in the work shonldbe exempted 
from the vicissitudes attendant on great under- 
takings. They may expect trials, triumphs and 
disappointments. 



CHAPTER XX. 

THE POWER OF SOCIAL INFLUElSrCES. 

Success in reformation demands self-denial. 
"Let liim deny himself, take up the cross and fol- 
low me." The requirement is binding. It cannot 
be ignored. No great action was ever success- 
fully accomplished by any one not thoroughly 
in subjection to himself. 

The experience of individuals and of nations 
ever testifies that the valuable and sacred of all 
institutions are made and maintained by the 
denial of selfishness. As we have shown, the 
curse of strong drink is fostered by this mean- 
est of vices, selfishness. By the exercise of self- 
denial, prosperity ensues. With an increase of 
self-denial, happier years commence, a higher 
life is begun, and a Christian character establish- 
ed. Self-denials make the good citizen and the 
excellent government; while the want of them, 
invariably fills our jails and state prisons, and 
brings thousands to the guillotine or gallows ! 
Self-denial makes peace, begets temperance, 
and keeps them alive in families and nations. 



314 THE POWEE OE 

The more self-denial, the more happiness ; and 
we may measure the happiness of the year be- 
forehand, even as we mete out to ourselves "the 
narrow way" of self-denial — the parent of sobri- 
ety. 

Such was the life of Jesus; self-denying and 
heavenly, temperate and pare; and "heaven on 
earth" means a sutficient amount of self-denial to 
make it so. To many the indulgence of the 
senses means happiness; and with such there is 
no propriety in putting limits to the products of 
those titillations which reach no higher than the 
senses. It is nevertheless true that the perverted 
indulgences of the senses are the causes of all 
unhappiness, and are, in reality, none other than 
"the broad road that leadeih ib destruction." 

The failure of men to exercise self-denial has 
produced more misery than any other cause. 
The want of it has invited the growth of customs 
and habits which have filled the world with woe. 

JSTot long since a venerated poet was honored 
by the brightest literary galaxy in America. 
"IChe sober, temperate Quaker bard, John Green- 
leaf Whittier, had not drawn his inspiration from 
the wine cup, and yet the custom of the times 
seemed to demand that on the occasion of honor- 
ing the poet by celebrating his birth-day, wine 
should flow freely. And not a few of the ad- 
dresses made on that occasion bear internal evi- 
dence of the '^sordid affiatus^^ — the inspiration of 
alcohol. The managers and the guests at the 



SOCIAL Il^FLUETTCES. 315 

Whittier banquet had not the self-denial to act 
against the received canons of social custom. It 
is a fact that cannot he denied that all the re- 
forms effected by man have been under the leader- 
ship of those God-inspired spirits who have 
trampled under foot the traditions and customs 
of their fellows, — denied themselves, taken up 
their crosses and followed the light of justice, 
mercy, truth and charity, brought into the 
world and kindled into an everlasting flame by 
Jesus Christ. Reforms of every kind then must 
be accomplished through self-denial. No won- 
der the women of the Temperance Union of Bos- 
ton expressed "the deep pain and regret felt by 
the members of that Union, that, on an occasion 
designed to honor one who holds one of the first 
places among the New England poets, it should 
have been deemed necessary to give countenance 
to a custom, which in its observance has brought 
dishonor and disaster to many homes." 

By the curse of the demon drink, women, 
though for the most part innocent themselves, 
have been the deepest sufferers from the con- 
sequences. No wonder women felt deeply the 
curse placed upon homes by strong drink. No 
wonder that in agony and despair they are temp- 
ted to register a great oath against it. In the 
hour of anguish a woman has cried, — 

'*Go feel what I have felt; 

Go, bear what I have borne; 
Sink 'neath the blows a father dealt, 



816 THE POWER OI' 

And the cold proud world's scorn. 
Thus stiuggle on from year to year, 
Thy sole relief the scalding tear. 

Go weep as I have wept, 

O'er a lored father's fall ; 
See every cherished promise swept, 
Youth's sweetness turned to gall; 
Hope's faded flowers strewed all the way 
That led me up to woman's day. 

*'Go to my mother's side, 

And her crushed spirit cheer; 

Thine own deep anguish hide, 
Wipe from her cheek the tear j 
Mark her dimmed eye, her furrowed brow. 
The gray that streaks her dark hair now. 
The toil-worn frame, the trembling limb. 
And trace the ruin back to him 
Whose plighted faith, in early youth. 
Promised eternal love and truth, 
But who, forsworn, hath yielded up 
This promise to the deadly cup. 
And led her down from love and light. 
From all that made her pathway bright, 
And chained her there mid want and strife, 
That lowly thing, — a drunkard's wife! 
And stamped on childhood's brow, so mild. 
That withering blight, — a drunkard's child! 

"Go hear, and see, and feel, and know 
All that my soul hath felt and kno<vn, 



SOCIAL INFLUENCES. ^ 317 

The* look within the wine cup's glow; 
See if its brighti ess can atone; 
Think if its flavor you would try, 
If it proclaimed — ^Tis drink and die, 

** Tell me I Iiate the bowly — 

JB'ate is a feeble word ; 
I loathe^ abhor, my very soul 
By strong disgust is stirred 
Whene'er J see, or hear, or tell 

Of the DARK BEVERAGE OF HELL !" 

Drink not of that wMcli nnderinines the basis 
of physical existence at last, and most assuredly 
disturbs the reason, obliterates self-respect, and 
brings with its use poverty^ misery, crime and 
death. 

Do men and women lose anything in the esti- 
mation of their fellow-creatures by self-denying 
temperance ? We say no. And in this we are 
borne out by the most reliable testimony — the 
facts of experience and the declarations of those 
persons who lay no claim to perfection or even 
to subjection to the claims of temperance. 

The solemn protests against some of our social 
customs which have undoubtedly led many down 
the shadowed pathway from respectability to 
the drunkard's degradation, are evidence that 
even men who do not profess to be either temper- 
ance advocates or Christians cannot lielp despis- 
ing the miserable drunkard. Just before the ad- 
vent of the New Year festivities of 1878, the Little 



318 THE POWEE OE 

Rock Gazette had this protest and warning against 
tlie social custom of offering wine and other 
liquors to "New Year's callers:" 

Everybody understands that we are no saint. 
Neither are we a Murphy. We are not engaged 
in propagating the temperance cause, nor do we 
seek to deprive people of what many conceive 
to be the "inalienable right" to drink when they 
please. But they are many, too many, who have 
not the power of control over themselves. And 
as New Year's morning dawns upon the world, a 
great many people who drink too much will start 
out with fresh purposes and new resolves of 
amendment for the future year which lies ahead. 
Far too many of them will fail in their resolves. 
They will break down and surrender. They 
should not be tempted. This brings us to our 
subject. The beautiful custom of renewing old 
friendships on the first day of the year brings 
with its pleasures its temptations. There are 
many young men who feel that the experience 
of 1877 will not do to repeat in 1878. Let not 
such be tempted on the first day of the new year 
— especially let them not be tempted by mothers, 
wives and sisters. Let good cheer abound, but 
on this day, consecrated as it is to good resolu- 
tions, let not the noble women of our city present 
the opportunity for breaking the new-made vows. 
If brothers, husbands and fathers break those 
resolves during the year, let not the fault lie at 
the door of those whose duty and whose highest 
interest it is to guard them from temptation. 
Therefore, we say to our fair dames and damsels, 
when you open your doors on New Year's morn- 
ing give nothing to your guests that will intoxi- 
cate. Dispense that noble and gracious hospi- 



SOCIAL INFLUENCES. 319 

tality for wliicli you are so well known, but do 
nothing that may cause you self-reproach at the 
end of another year. And this is our last sermon 
for 1877. 

Barring the admission in the opening, the above 
is a brief but as practical a sermon as often 
comes from a pulpit. It comes from the pen of 
a writer who does not claim to be "a saint" or ''a 
Murphy;'' in other words from one who still feels 
strong enough to resist temptation, and yet 
" takes his bitters," no doubt, and who despises 
the meanness and degradation of the drunkard. 
Who cares for the poor miserable creatures who 
are weak enough to yield ? And who is strong 
enough to resist ? Oh, woman, the chief sufferer 
from the dire curse of intemperance: play not 
the part of Eve of old, to bring upon your sex 
misery and woe. Banish the punch bov/1 and the 
wine bottle from your hospitable tables. Place not 
temptation before the young men who are to be- 
come the husbands of your daughters. Keep no 
school to teach the lessons of intemperance to 
those who may sometimes have the custody of 
their happiness. Exercise true self-denial. Fol- 
low not after customs of dead years, so prolihc in 
calamities to society. Make customs. You have 
as much right, and more, to do so than those who 
made the customs you follow. Therefore banish 

the temptation of ilie curse from all your feasts 
and social entertainments. 

To the ladies, then, we make an appeal. Save 

the world. It is admitted that if woman be placed 



320 THE POWER OF 

among the flowers and fostered as a tender plant, 
slie may become a tiling of fancy, wayward- 
ness and folly, reckless of the future, moved by 
impulses, annoyed by a dew-drop, fretted by the 
touch of a butterfly's wing, ready to faint at 
the sound of a beetle or the moan of the 
night wind ; that she may be overpowered 
by the fragrance of a rosebud. But these 
characteristics, paradoxical as it may seem, 
do not destroy the measureless capacity for hero- 
ism that lie hidden in her sympathetic bosom. 
Grander qualities are revealed in the hour of 
trial. When real calamities come, when distress 
casts its shadows over the soul, when sorrows 
drop as an impenetrable darkness over every 
hope, when strong men sink beneath the tide of 
disaster, her afl'ections are roused, the fires of the 
heart are kindled, and woman rises above all, re- 
splendent, sublime ! 'No longer weak, she pos- 
sesses a courage that is born of the diviner nature 
of her sex. 

It is because woman possesses these character- 
istics, and others not less important in the fierce 
conflict of life, that she is now appealed to in 
behalf of a " drink-cursed world." Much she has 
already performed ; much remains for her to do. 
Let her become the conservator of morals, the 
teacher of purity, the protector of weakness. 
Give her a mission, and we know that not even 
the arch-fiend and legions of demons can van- 
quish the roused affections and hopes that ani- 



SOCIAL nTFLTJENCES. 821 

mate her heart and transform the gentle and 
confiding, the trusting and shrinking being into 
a very angel of power, courage and persistence. 
Why, look at her ! Mark her ways ! Place her 
in the heat of battle, she forgets all fear ; give 
her a child to protect, and Achilles was not more 
courageous than she. See her, all unmindful of 
danger, lifting white arms as a shield, as her 
own blood crimsons her upturned forehead, 
praying for life — not that she may live for her- 
'self, but to protect the helpless. Transplant her 
to the darkest abodes of misery and distress ; it 
but calls forth her energies and gives practical 
direction to action. Her very breath becomes a 
healing atmosphere, her presence a blessing that 
is divine. She disputes inch by inch the deadly 
strides of the pestilence, when men, the strong 
and brave, trembling, pale and affrighted, shrink 
away. AnEIeanore in the tents of the crusaders 
applying her fair lips to extract the Paynim's 
poison from the wounds/of her beloved Edward, 
is a picture of the heroism and devotion of a 
being of truth, fidelity and courage. Misfortune 
haunts her not ; she wears away a life of silent 
endurance and goes forward with far less timidity 
than to lier bridal. She is fitted thus to become 
the leader in moral and social reforms. In truth 
woman is a miracle, a mystery, the center from 
which radiates the charm of existence. Let her 
become the protector of society ; let her feel that 
the safety, the salvation, the life of the state de- 



322 THE POWEE OF 

pend npon her, and all the inventions of the 
evil one will not deter her from the performance 
of duty. 

But women must be taught their duty. Some- 
times, as with others, the lesson is learned in the 
hard school of experience. Just before the be- 
ginning of the year 1878, the Philadelphia Times 
also had a little sermon — would that more such 
found a place in the columns of the secular 
newspapers — in which the great evil of social 
drinking was strongly portrayed. The lesson of 
that sermon is fitted for all time. "We reproduce 
it here : 

It is scarcely unfair to assume that in most of 
the houses opened for I^ew Year receptions, 
wine, egg-nog, punch or stronger intoxicating 
liquors will be furnished for the refreshment of 
the guests. This not only in homes where tyran- 
ical politicians as husbands and fathers hold 
sway, and sternly utter the fiat, "no wine, no 
reception," but where women alone have do- 
minion, or where they may at least be supposed 
to have a voice in the arrangements of the day. 

The wine bill will add at least half to the cost 
of the entertainment ; therefore, it is mean not to 
incur it; beside, horrors of horrors, to those in 
the least dubious of their own social standing, it 
is nil fashionable not to have wine. So white 
hands will hold out the wine-cup, and sweet 
smiles will lure young men, perhaps to ruin. It 
must be a weak head that cannot stand a few 
glasses of wine on New Year's day, and if they 
do get drunk, what harm? Society will condone 
the offense. And sip after sip is taken, until after 



SOCIAL INFLUENCES. 323 

fhe last fashionable call the calJers go reeling to 
darker orgies in haunts which fashion does not 
know, and thence still later to homes which are 
ashamed of them, to mothers and wives, who, 
though wrung by heartache, forget that they have 
themselves contributed to make some one else's 
sons and husbands even such as they blush for. 

It is on woman that the heaviest curse of in- 
temperance falls. Even now there are women 
with shoulders bruised and sore by blows from 
arms nerved with drink ; children hungry and 
naked because the money which should have 
bought them food and clothing has gone for 
drink ; while in the wealthier homes women who 
know not hunger or cold dread the sound of the 
latch key in the door, and children shrink appre- 
hensively from the home-coming foot steps of 
their father. 

Yet, as we once heard an Irish woman say, 
whose arms were bared to the wash-tub, expos- 
ing bruises left by the blows of a drunken hus- 
band, "he is a good mon when the drink is not 
in him." 

When drinking becomes unfashionable, when 
it is as disreputable to be tipsy with champagne 
as with potheen^ then we shall witness a reform. 

Once a year woman holds the power in her 
ow^n hands ; once a year she can, if she pleases, 
make wine unfashionable. And trust us, com- 
paratively few of the callers will complain. A 
cup of good coffee or delicious chocolate, or a 
glass of lemonade, will readily be accepted 
instead, and no man will the less honor a woman 
because she raises her voice against what has 
always been the foe of her race. 

The first lady of the Republic has, at all 
events, done her part. On the 1st of January, 



324 THE POWER OF 

1878, there was no wine in the "White House. 
So there is no wanting a fugehnan for the new 
band. You know in your own hearts that no 
man who drinks is lit to be trusted with the hap- 
piness of any woman ; know, perhaps, some 
of you also, how much any man who drinks 
makes his women suffer ; how wife and cliildren, 
honor and truth all go down before the thirst of 
strong drink. You have no call to lead a cru- 
sade, to head a temperance movement; your 
work is solely within your own gates, and you 
can do or leave it as you choose. 

How should the women of America honor the 
virtues and respect the determination of Mrs. 
Hayes, the Mistress of the White House, for ban- 
ishing wine from her table ? Let women rise 
above the demands of social customs. Men 
whose opinions are worth attention will honor the 
women who decline to assist in the manufacture 
of drunkards by placing before them the tempta- 
tion to drink in obedience to the requirements of 
fashion. Women of America, upright walking 
is safe walking 1 

The destruction of a single young and aspir- 
ing soul ought to damn any custom of society. 
Yet how many young men have been ruined by 
the common habit of offering wine at social enter- 
tainments. An instance of such ruin comes be- 
fore the author now. Guy W^ was a young 

man endowed with brilliant talents. His family 
were among the most respectable people in the 

county of W in Tennessee. He went to 

the city to study for the bar. His habits were 



SOCIAL INFLUENCES. 325 

correct and Ms morals unexceptionalble. For 
nearly a year lie closely applied himself to study 
and made rapid progress. He was admitted to 
the courts. His first case was one of considera- 
ble importance. The opposing counsel was one 

of the ablest men at the bar in M , at that 

time noted for the number of brilliant minds that 

pursued the profession there. Young Guy W 

won his cause after a brave contest, and by this 
success made many friends. He was pointed out 
by parents as a model young man, a worthy 
pattern for their own sons. The highly respect- 
able character of his family connections secured 
for him an easy entre into the best circles of 
society. At an entertainment one evening, the 
daughter of the host, a brilliant and beautiful 
girl, offered him wine. He had never taken 
any before. At first he refused. She pressed it 
upon him, and bantered him on his want of 
spirit. Guy drank — not once but several times 
— and when he left the house he could not con- 
ceal the fact from himself that he was partly in- 
toxicated. That was the turning point in his 
destiny. For a while he drank only wine and 
beer. But the appetite grew. It was not long 
before he drank brandy. In less than a year he 
was a drunkard. Society spurned him. The 
friends who had gathered about him during the 
earlier stages of his drinking career had forsaken 
him. He was already an outcast. Eighteen 
months after he had taken his first drink, in a fit 



326 THE POWER OF SOCIAL IjS^ELUENCES. 

of despondency, lie "retired to his wretched room 
and blew out his brains. Lady, do not unchain the 
tiger ! You know not what uncontrolable 
thirst you may arouse or create. Beware that 
3^ou do not become, instead of a ministering 
angel, a spirit of cursing. 



CHAPTEH XXI. 

THE PATHOLOGY OF DEUI^rKEN]S"ESS. 

TTie British Medical Journal of ISTovem- 
Iber lOth, 1877, contains a remarkable paper from 
the pen of Dr. Dyce Duckworth, F. R. C. P., on 
"The Medical Injunction of Stimulants in Disease 
and Health." The eminence of Dr. Duckworth 
as a physician will comnaand the attention of the 
faculty, and of all Christian moralists. He agrees 
that the reproach cast npon England for its 
notorious drunkenness is utterly grievous. The 
question, he says, is one for the clergy and the 
doctors. When the doctors agree and can lay 
down principles to guide the clergy, the two pro- 
fessions will be able to lay an irresistible case 
"before Parliament. It is discreditable to the 
profession, he thinks, that they, should be 
divided, not in opinion, but about facts. There 
is no middle course; stimulants are all right if 
rightly used, or all wrong if used at all or in any 
degree. Dr. Duckworth then gives w^hat he holds 
and sees to he the true and legitimate position 
of thoughtful medical men in respect to the use 



828 THE PATHOLOGY 

of stimulants in disease. He groups the diseases 
in whose treatment alcohol is and is not of use, 
and concludes that there is no routine in the 
matter of employing stimulants. "We put 
alcohol, with its congeners, into our therapeutic 
armamenterium; it is to hand when wanted, just 
as are quinine, calomel, the lancet or the cupping 
glass. We cannot do without it or with any of 
these things, but we employ them or not, as our 
bedside knowledge indicates." 

"But is alcohol or wine food? Some physiolo- 
gists tell us so. I do not believe them. I am 
fully satisfied of the nutrient power of wine and 
alcohol alone, under some conditions, or more 
especially in conjunction with other pabula." 
"Stimulants," Dr. Duckworth continues, "are not 
necessary to healthy and well-fed people leading 
what may be called normal lives." 

After discussing at some length the question 
of the general use of beer, and its effects on the 
sanitary condition of the people, Dr. Duckworth 
proceeds: 

"But a large number of persons suffering 
chiefly from dyspepsia or insimonia are better 
without stimulants of any kind." A "daily al- 
lowance" of alcohol is manifestly wrong; more 
to-day and less to-morrow may be needed or 
instinctively called for. "The rational individual 
must honestly and conscientiously find out for 
himself what the special needs of his system are; 
and where a right minded Christian individual 



or DRUNKENNESS. 320 

is in earnest in sucli a matter, and has a proper 
control over his appetite, he is not likely to go 
far wrong in the matter of stimulants!" 

Medical men should nrge teetotalism upon the 
nervous classes of drunkards, persons who are 
careless and self-indulgent, or who by their lives 
or calling are much in the way of drink. Stimu- 
lants should be always taken at meal times and 
only then. 

"I am confident," Dr. Duckworth says, "that 
as a body our profession is unanimous as in 
condemning the modern American habit of tak- 
ing odd glasses of stimulants at all hours, and 
lament the grievous multiplication of the means 
of gratifying this mischievous custom; for truly 
the conduct of young business men in our cities 
and large towns in this respect, is becoming dis- 
graceful, and the practice is fast gaining in other 
cities and communities. Our countrymen of these 
classes have no excuse for this." 

No serious results, in Dr. Duckworth's opinion, 
follow the sudden cutting-off of stimulants from 
hard drinkers or delirium tremens patients. 

Dr. Duckworth applauds "the noble example 
of total abstention from strong drinks set by the 
clergy and others in conspicuous positions." 
"We, as a body," he says, "are at all events una- 
ble to resist the evidence they bear to the effect 
that their principles alone, in many cases, enable 
them to reclaim drunkards, and achieve results 

that would otherwise be impossible." 
11 



S30 THE t>ATHOLOGY 

It lias puzzled a good many very scientiiic and 
higlily intelligent people to know just why it is 
that a drunkard must persist in soaking himself 
full of the ruinous stuff he drinks, after he has 
already swallowed " enough" of it. Only those 
who have " been through the mill" of a drunk- 
ard's life, and felt the double horrors of the upper 
and nether millstone of punishment which ever 
grinds them with increasing energy, while con- 
stantly driving them on to worse and worse ex- 
cesses, can realize the awful craving. It seems 
the headlong impetus to the " soaked and satu- 
rate, out and out," dead-drurik condition, is al- 
most irresistible after the man's self-respect and 
will-power are once broken down. What is the 
exact morbid condition of the stomach and 
nerves of such a miserable person ? What — as 
the doctors would say — is the pathology of such 
a case ? What is the invisible, ruinous power 
within him which is greater than he, and ever 
turns and rends him,like the demon that possessed 
the Gadarene ? The drunkard may not always 
have the aid of Christ's power to cast out this 
fell spirit, as did the poor fellow who dwelt 
among the tombs and was made to cut himself 
with stones ; but it is demonstrated that with 
kind and judicious help he can reform himself, 
and overcome the alcoholic demon that is killing 
him. Such has been the actual experience of 
many who have written their story, and these 
have been read and discussed, and by none more 



, OP DEUNKEI^NESS. 331 

eagerly, or with a more terrible perception of tlieir 
meaning, than the unfortunate class who know 
their own slavery to liquor, and the swift and in- 
evitable end of it, while they still lack the decis- 
ion and energy to save themselves. That such 
cases can be saved, — or, rather, that they can, if 
they really will, save themselves — should be in- 
centive enough to all philanthropic persons . to 
lend them a helping hand, particularly in the 
hours when their temptation to fall back is 
stron2:est. But the drunkard, who would reform, 
^ust learn that in this, as in other things, 
every man must be his own redeemer. 

Yet we should not forget that men, in the effort 
to redeem themselves, need the sympathy and 
assistance of others. When the poor drunkard 
comes to himself, and resolves to be a man, it is 
the duty of every true citizen, every one who 
feels responsibility to the community of which 
he is a member, to lend a helping hand to the 
shipwr3cked being struggling to the shore of de- 
liverance. We should remember that, as ac- 
countable beings, as moral agents, as members 
of the great human race, an imperative obliga- 
tion rests upon us to live not for ourselves alone. 
We are linked in the chain of being. One genera- 
tion passes away, and another comes ; but the 
race does not die. Each generation has received 
something from that which preceded it. We 
therefore live not unto ourselves. We know not 
how much of the peculiarities of our individual 



332 THE PATHOLOGY 

existence are due to the causes external to our- 
selves. Influences which may have originated 
many generations l)ack, are perhaps even 
now working on our every day life. We think 
that our obscurity will confine our power to our 
humble abode. Such is a mistaken view. 

One home made bright and beautiful ; one 
family saved from degradation; one intellect 
rescued from the pall of darkness in which in- 
temperance has involved it, may result in starting 
a little rivulet of influence for good which will 
flow on down the slope of ages, dispensing bless- 
ings to unborn millions. Take the drunkard, as* 
he staggers to his feet, as his reason reasserts its 
sway, and lead him away from the haunts of the 
demon. Place him in the midst of other scenes, 
bring about him pure associations, and the 
change of environments will give firmness to his 
tottering footsteps, strength to his will, and 
courage to his heart. 

Predisposition to transgress the laws of physi- 
ology and of moralit}^ — the so-called laws of 
heredity — may be conquered, has been conquer- 
ed. But not all are equal to the task, not all 
have the strength to effect the conquest, without 
invoking the mighty forces of external influence. 
Hence the necessity of removing the recovering 
drunkard from his surroundings — from the 
presence of the baleful influences that first 
caused his fall. It is a well attested fact that in 
communities where the recognized leaders of 




THE DEMONIACAL HARVEST. 



OF DEUIN'KEITNESS. 335 

fasMon and the mass of all the citizens look with 
disrespect and positive aversion upon all addic- 
ted to intemperate habits, that intemperance is 
seldom developed, and drunTcards already made 
shun such neighborhoods. The author recalls 
j ust such a community. There v^^ere about 
one thousand or twelve hundred people in the 
"settlement;" but not a single "grocery" — as 
dramshops were called — nor a drunkard. Drimli:- 
ards liave Ijeen^ at some time in life^ m^ore or 
less self-respecting. Few men who join their 
friends in " a social glass," expect to become 
topers and outcasts. Oh, no ; they scorn and 
utterly despise the drunTcard. They have no 
patience with persons who some jears before 
started on the precise road they are travelling. 
They are genteel tipplers. They start with 
champagne, and are almost certain to end with 
hemine. There is no discredit, no social ostra- 
cism for the gentlemen who indulge in "just a 
thimbleful of something warm." Oh, no. " The 
inner man, you know, must have attention." And 
so they go on. The*devouring thirst refuses to 
be satisfied. Champagne is discarded for " fine 
old brandy, of a mellow flavor and smooth 
descent;" that is soon superseded by " okl rj^e ;" 
then "bourbon ;" at last anything that contains 
alcohol, oil of capsicum, and other stimulants. 
The genteel tippler has become a slave of the 
demon of strong drink ; the hon vhant of aristo- 
cratic pretensions has become a low-bred sot — a 



836 THE PATHOLOGY 

drunkard snch as he once despised. " Tlie de- 
scent to hell is easy." 

But suppose society was differently consti- 
tuted ; suppose that the leaders of political par- 
ties and society cliques were temperance men 
and women ; suppose it was esteemed a disgrace 
for a respectable member of society to be seen 
taking a glass of beer, wine, or other liquor; 
suppose all who did so were to be tabooed and 
driven from the ranks of respectable social 
circles ; how many would then drink ? The call- 
ing of the dram-shop keeper would not be what 
it is now. But the rich, the honored, the leaders 
of parties and cliques, drink, "the upper ten 
thousand" sip their wine, and why should not 
the humbler class take their "corn juice." And 
they do take it, and we behold the sad results 
flowing from it. How many intellects, which 
might have shone as beacon lights for the race, 
have been eclipsed by the accursed wine-cup? 
How many can exclaim in the lucid moments 
given them — 

"Oh, the bitter pain! 

Oh, the aching smart 
01 a wine-cursM brain 

And an empty heart! 
What are laurel wreaths, 

Pomp of wealth or power? 
Worthless all! They cannot bring 

Back a wasted hour I " 

To help such despairing mortals to improve 



O:^ DEUKKEKKESS. 337 

the remaining hours, is a duty wliicli should be 
performed not only for the sake of the helped, 
but for the real pleasure it will afford the helper. 
Such a man must have Si place ; if not of honor 
and fame among the favored children of fortune 
and power on earth, still an abiding retreat in 
the inner chambers of the hearts of his fellow 
mortals. Look at Captain Sturdivant, who 
sought Francis Murphy behind prison bars, 
and took him by the hand, and gave him sym- 
pathy that inspired hope in his well-nigh hope- 
less soul 1 Can the influence of such a man die? 
What mighty results have flowed from that 
' generous act ? The degraded drunkard was 
lifted from his degradation, brought from the 
gloom}^ cell into the glorious light of God's sun, 
and from thence went forth as an Apostle of 
Temperance, to battle against the terrible de- 
mon which had hurled him from the proud posi- 
tion of free manhood to the cell of a prison. 
Such men must at last attain that crown which 
shall outshine the stars in the heavens. 

But, it may be objected, if men are to be their 
own redeemers, why should the assistance of 
others be necessary ? Yes, men must act for 
themselves in the matter. That is true. But, 
when they have acted, when they have asserted 
themselves and summoned all their remaining 
moral power to sustain them in their efl'ort, tlie}^ 
need the strong arm to steady their wavering 
footsteps. It must be remembered that the 



838 THE PATHOLOGY 

« 

drunJcard^s friends and Sissocmtes SiredrunA'ards. 
JS'ot even the genteel tippler will own Mm. His 
condition is that of an outcast, a Pariah, adrift 
on the worid. If he is to be saved, he needs, and 
must have, association and sympathy among a 
different class from his former companions. His 
environments must be changed to ensure reforma- 
tion. He must be helped. 

And is not the drunkard to be pitied ? He is 
no longer master of his own actions. He is dis- 
eased, weak and wretched. Who that has felt the 
horrors of the demon's poAver, does not realize 
the fearful condition of the victim. Only God 
and the redeemed drunkard can know the vast 
miseries which that soul has endured. 

Just look at the drunkard ! His position and 
actions are alike unaccountable to those who 
have never been \;ictims. Why should men, 
originally of strong wills, active braids and large 
muscular endowments, become such abject slaves 
to so apparently insignificant a thing as a glass of 
liquor ? Why should men gifted as were Stephen 
A. Douglas, E-ichard Yates and Daniel Webster, 
even, the brightest minds of America, contrary to 
their reason, contrary to interest and happiness, 
the love of their families, their honor and fame 
among their fellow-men, and in spite of every- 
thing tending to their well-being, give way before 
the fascinations of the intoxicating draught? 
Why should such God-like minds thus degrade 
themselves and seek their own destruction ? It 



OF DRUNKENNESS. 339 

could not Ibe the result of deliberation. "No man, 
however low in intellectual perception and moral 
force, ever deliberately became a sot. Let us 
sorrowfully open the book of a drinking man's 
experience. Can that experience be adequately 
setfQrth? Scarcely. The majority of drunkards 
have sober moments, and they know perfectly- 
well their situation. On the one hand, infernal 
and eternal horrors, perfectly comprehended from 
past experience, confront the habitual drinker in 
the near future ; while well-defined and thorough- 
ly appreciated peace and happiness belong to him 
by the taking, burdened by one sole condition : 
abstinence. Yet he will drink, though death's 
grim visage glares at him from every drop of the 
poison. 

There are three classes of persons who can ex- 
plain this anomaly. First, the reformed drunk- 
ard, who time after time has fought the battle 
of i;eason and judgment against appetite, and 
who has so many times been the vanquished ; 
second, the educated and practiced pli} sician, 
who is accustomed to search the system for the 
cause of any abnormal exhibition, indicative of 
some undetermined disease ; and third, they who 
by familiarity with instances of chronic alcohol- 
ism have learned to accept, without really com- 
prehending, the statements of the other two 
classes. 

The drunkard wants, must, and will drinlv. 
Why ? 'Not because the liquor is palatable ; at 



340 THE PATHOLOGY 

this stage it is not necessary that the drinker 
shall have choice, "smooth," and old liquors. 
He would, if the two kinds were put hefore him 
in private choose the older whisky ; hut, from 
the fact that it was smoother he would want an 
increased measure, to make up for the absence 
of "burn," the warming of the "inwards" as it 
went down. This may seem strange, even to 
habitual (but not depraved) drinkers ; but it is a 
fact, that, the more fiery the draft, the nearer it 
approaches their desires. In fact, the most de- 
sirable drink that can be thought of for the really 
depraved drinker is a glass of raw spirits, and a 
liberal addition of Jamaica ginger, or some pre- 
paration of capsicum. To this added enough 
ginger- ale, as a vehicle, to land it safe in the 
stomach without strangulation. Once this dose 
comfortably down, in sufficient quantity, the 
drunkard is in elysium. The capsicum heats up 
at once, and later, the alcohol permeating the 
veins, nerves and pores, the man's morbid appe- 
tite is temporarily appeased. The drunkard is 
sensitive; give him in public a glass of thirty- 
five-year-old whisky, he would probably taste it, 
smack his lips, and descant upon its beautiful 
qualities for minutes. This is all affectation, and 
only to conceal how much his stomach craves 
the stimulant. His moments spent in this way 
are very aggravating to him; his desire is to fill 
the glass to the brim and gulp it down. Give 
him a demijohn of it in his own room, unseen to 



-OF DETJKKEKK'ESS. 341 

mortal eye, and Ms manner will be entirely dif- 
ferent. He is in no hurry now; lie is sure of Ms 
feast, and will fill a tumbler full and gaze, and 
gloat over it. If lie contemplates its extreme 
age at all, it is with regret that it has been 
neglected for so many years, and has not stimu- 
lated some poor fellow's brain before. Before 
swallowing that glass of venerable poison, he 
will sprinkle it witii liberal quantities of Jamaica 
ginger, to replace the burning qualities that 
cruel time has robbed it of. It may be said in 
contravention of this statement, that many old 
topers have a great fondness for the oldest and 
best liquors. This is a second, and separate hab- 
it; he has grown to think that he likes old liquor 
the better, and will walk a mile to get his drink 
in some place where he has confidence in the 
bar-tender, rather than take his cliances in a low 
or unknown saloon. But the bar-tender will tell 
us that he does not really want old and smooth 
whisky, and that if he gave it to him, he would 
say his liquor was deteriorating; what he wants 
is a glass of fiery spirits, with a respectable land- 
lord's certificate around it. 

Again, to illustrate that the palatableness of a 
glass of liquor has but little to do with drinking, 
an old drunkard seldom calls for mixed drinks, 
such as toddies, punches, etc.; and here appears 
another distinctive trait in his character, super- 
lative greediness. He does not like to have the 
bar-tender mix him a rum-punch, as he is afraid 



342 THE PATHOLOGY 

that ifc will not contain enongli alcohol. Straight 
whisky is a much more judicious nomination, as 
it entitles him to the privilege of handling the 
bottle and pouring for himself. 'Now one of the 
most uncomfortable conditions of drinking in pub- 
lic comes in. The drunkard's desire is for a tum- 
bler-full, but he is ashamed to have the bar- ten- 
der and his friends see his excessive ''drunks." 
In the first stages of this mania his shame will 
conquer, he will restrain his hand and be thank- 
ful for a third of a glassful, say two ounces; but 
as his disease developes he becomes callous, and 
affects not to notice the unpleasant jocularity of 
his friends, and the sarcasm of the bar-tender, as, 
seeing his more than half-filled glass, he ex- 
claims: 

"Why, Tom ! do you want a bath, my boy ? 
We have a barrel of perfumed whisky that we 
set out for swimming purposes." Or, "My dear 
fellow! did you think that that was the water? 
The water you will find in the pitcher; that is the 
gin.''^ 

This is unpleasant, embarrassing even, and 
shows a lack of delicacy on the part of the liquor 
dispenser, quite reprehensible. However, all the 
followers of ennobling causes must bear their 
cross, and the drunkard, with a remembrance of 
Fox's Book of Martyrs, must not expect always 
"flowery beds of ease." Even when he has 
plenty of money, it is hard to make his first 
drinks light. He abominates small measures ; 



OF BKUTSTKENIS'ESS. 843 

and thougli he knows that he is going to have 
plenty more, a half-tumblerful seems small 
enough for his introductory imbibation. He care- 
fully canvasses the size of different landlords' 
glasses. It is a matter of serious import with 
him whether that cut-glass bar-iumbler of A.'s 
really holds as much as the buckets of B., with 
all the superfluous glass which encircles the 
mythical space. Could he practically determine 
which man's glasses held the most, rest assured 
that he of the large measure would secure the 
confirmed drunkard's patronage. 

No ; it is not because liquor tastes good that 
he drinks it now. It is not on account of the con- 
viviality attending drinking companions. In 
days long gone by, he enjoyed everything in 
the shape of vigorous sport, among associates 
equally stimulated. Life, health and activity 
characterized his enjoyments. He would ener- 
getically prosecute his daily labor and hasten to 
scenes of mirth and hilarity. He has now parted 
with a large portion of his vigor, and is becoming 
a common bar-room setter. As the flames of 
alcoholic poison light up and impel his paralyzed 
Ibrain, he is particularly happy if he can get 
some inoffensive person, and' buzz him into an 
intolerable ear-ache. The company of a drunken 
comrade equally buzzy is objectionable, as he 
will insist upon occupying at least half of the 
time with his own loquacity. But a patient, 
amiable, and not over-critical victim, who is sat- 



344 THE PATHOLO&Y 

isfied with simply assisting Ms volubility with 
interjections of "yes" or "no," " I see," or "you 
are right," is a prize l)eyond estimate. It is 
assupi^d that he does not drink for the love of 
stimulus, even. On awaking in the morning his 
first desire is for drink ; this before he realizes 
that he is nervous or distressed in any way. 
This is as instantaneous and instinctive as the 
child's cry on being ushered into the world. 
There is no fully defined reason for drinking, in 
his mind. He, after a little, finds that he is 
nervous, shaky, and unstrung. He then has an 
intelligent idea that liquor will steady him. He 
realizes later that he must eat. Well ! the only 
way to accomplish a breakfast is to drink first. 
His brain informs him chat for many reasons he 
will be benefited bv stimulus. But these are 
after thoughts. The first gleam of intelligence 
that broke through his drunken lethargy craved 
drink. Were it simply a love of stimulus that 
caused him to drink, that stimulus once afforded, 
his ajDpetite would be allayed. Not so ! The 
causes of disquietude removed, his desire for 
stimulus satiated, he yet desires to drink — to 
plunge anew into another excess — to gorge him- 
self to stupefaction. Xhe old drunkard main- 
tains an equipoise only at an excessive expense of 
the will-power. For him it is easy to get drunk ; 
it.is comparatively easy to keep sober ; but to, 
every hour of his life, drink only enough to 
^' keep up," is one of the hardest tasks assigned 



, OF DKUNKENNESS. 345 

to a diseased mortal. Give one of these men a stiff 
drink of whisky, and then set him the task of re- 
sisting a second glass, and yon have given him 
well-nigh an impossibility to perform. The load- 
stone's attraction for the needle, the serpent's 
eye for the bird, feebly express the power that a 
glass of liquor has over him. That terrible 
gnawing at the pit of the stomach will soon de- 
throne reason — the brain reels and the man 
falls. 

Now what is it that causes these men to drink 
at this time ? It is argued that it is not the sense 
of taste — in any way gratified — which is proved 
by the manner in which he gulps his liquor 
down ; indeed, could he by some means have the 
dose conveyed into his stomach without passing 
down his throat, it would relieve him of one of 
his greatest difficulties — getting it down. It is 
not a fondness for the society of drunken, conge- 
nial companions, and the hilarity attending such 
associations, shown in his increasing sedentary 
habits. That it is not even a love for the stimu- 
lus, is demonstrated in his continuing to guzzle 
long after he is stimulated to satiety. 

The drunkard is possessed of a morbid appe- 
tite for the swalloioing of inordinate quantites of 
fiery liquors; it is entirely independent of taste, 
love of stimulus, or companionship; he has no 
definite idea lolty he drinks ; the gratifying of 
the demands of his appetite affords liim scarcely 
any appreciable satisfaction, but is like pouring 



346 * THE PATHOLOGY 

oil upon the flames ; Ms chief satisfaction con- 
sists in the freeing himself from the "burden and 
agony of refusing his appetite what it so terribly 
craves ; the misery attending self-denial, contend- 
ing against his desires, is the notion that impels 
him, not any ^pleasure obtained from drinking. 
This is the first proposition, and it supports 
the second : That so unreasonable an appetite 
indicates the presence of disease, and the disease 
is a well-defined mania — Dypsomania ; literally, 
thirst mania. 

This is the pathology of drunkenness. He 
only who has started on the road to the drunk- 
ard's fate, but stayed his footsteps in time to save 
himself from the drunkard's doom, can realize 
the truthfulness of the picture we have presented. 
The man who has stood upon the brink of the 
pit of destruction, retaining just a sufiicient 
amount of self-consciousness to study his own 
progressive stages toward complete slavery to 
the appetite for strong drink, is only competent 
to describe the effect of whisky on the physical 
system and the mental faculties. No one else 
can do it. One must have experienced in order 
to know. 

Now do not such men need assistance . When 
they have reached a certain stage in their career 
as drinkers of strong liquors, they lose will-pow- 
er, they become both mentally and physically 
diseased, and they need both moral and 
medical assistance. No one will deny that the 



or DRUNKENNESS. 347 

great Webster was a man of great and effective 
will-power in almost every situation in life. No 
one can deny that Stephen A. Douglas was a man 
of immense force of character, or that Richard 
Yates, of Illinois, was gifted beyond the average 
of even the leading men of his time; and yet 
these great and gifted men were never free from 
the terrible power of the demon of strong drink. 
!N'o one knows, no one can ever know, how earn- 
estly Richard Yates fought against this enemy 
to his happiness and his fame. Time and again 
he pledged himself against it, and as often fell 
its victim. The history of that gifted man whose 
career gave such brilliant promise, is one of the 
saddest in the whole range of American biogra- 
phy. A great soul, a powerful intellect, was 
wrecked — largely lost to himself and his country 
through the terrible thirst for strong drink. Mor- 
al influences alone may be competent to reform 
some, if they are earnest in their own resolves. 
Medical aid is necessary for some others, who 
have surrendered roasoi), judgment and moral 
perception in pursuit of their appetite — the 
wretched drunkard who has lost all self respect. 



CHAPTER XXn. 

THE PATHWAY TO EUIN MADE EAST. 

"No man can read another's thoughts." This 
saying is trite but true. No man can measure 
the strength of will which another may possess. 
The subtle operations of the brain, "the thought 
producing organ of man, cannot be fathomed 
even by the possessor. The first glass of intoxi- 
cating liquor may prove the begiuning of the 
journey to destruction. It is a crime to present 
that first glass, since it may ruin a life and damn 
a soul. The social customs prevalent in America 
are responsible for much of the wretchedness 
caused by intemperance. This proposition is 
substantiated by the experience of thousands of 
outcast drunkards. Shall we not then strive 
earnestly to correct such evil habits? It is better 
to prevent a disorder than to cure it. 

Since the beginning of the year 1878, an inci- 
dent occurred in the presence of the author which 
led to the revelation of a life-history, which illus- 
trates the subject of this chapter so forcibly, and 
in a manner so pathetic, that no apology is 
necessary for its introduction here. 



Rtim maDje easy. S49 

'It was night. Tlie gas-lights flashed through 
the misty air with a softened radiance. The 
great throngs hurried Iby with restless haste. 
Brilliantly illuminated saloons invitingly opened 
to such of the multitude as might feel inclined to 
enter and partake of the hot liquors dispensed 
from the bar. 

Two friends strolled leisurely down one of the 
principal streets of the city. Just as they came 
opposite the entrance of a fashionable drinking 
saloon their attention was arrested by a commo- 
tion going on within. In a moment afterward, 
a wretched looking man, apparently past middle 
life, was hustled rapidly out and across the pave- 
ment by a stout and well-dressed man, who gave 
him a tremendous kick which landed him in the 
gutter. 

The two friends paused near the entrance of 
the saloon. The brutal act aroused their sym- 
pathies for the unfortunate man. One of them 
ran to assist him to his feet again. By the light 
of the gas-lamp in front of the whisky palace, the 
features of the man were plainly revealed. It 
was evident at a glance that he was not of the 
pariah class of drunkards. HesUiight have been 
fifty years of age, but his shaggy white beard 
and unkempt gray locks betokened a greater 
span of years. His linen was soiled, his coat 
was tattered and grimy, his cheeks were pufty, 
and his eyes bleared and wild. He tottered with 
hesitating steps to the sidewalk. H\s hands 



350 THE PATHWAY TO 

trembled so violently that it was painfully evi- 
dent his whole nervous system was irredeemably 
shattered. Strong drink had wrought its work. 

One of the gentlemen whose humanity had 
been outraged by the brutality of the dram- 
seller, at once recognized the fallen wretch as 
one well known to him long j" ears before — indeed 
that wreck of a man had been a college chum 
and class-mate of his in the halcyon days of his 
youth. 

"Well Tom, here you are again! I am sorry to 
see you in this plight. What is the matter, Tom?" 
The question seemed to arouse the unfortunate 
man. 

"Ah, is it you, Ben ? I'm mighty glad you came 
along." And the inebriate spoke in a thick, 
husky voice, but with an effort to speak and act 
soberly. "I really think that brute came near 
killing me." 

"And what is the matter, Tom?" the gentle- 
man inquired. 

"Well, you see I've spent hundreds of dollars 
in that place, when I had money, and as I hadn't 
had anything for a good while, and was awful 
dry, I just w^ent in and asked him for a drink of 
whisky to revive me. Then he came from behind 
the bar and struck me here" — placing his hand on 
his chest — "and shoved me out, and then kicked 
me." 

"Why don't you quit this awful drink, Tom ?" 
asked his friend in a serious tone. 



RTTIK MADE EASY. 851 

"What is the use P 

There was despair in the very tones of his 
voice. He had removed his hat. The gentle 
winds^toyed with his unshorn gray locks. The 
broad square forehead and the high arched brow 
at once told of a noble spirit and a grand intel- 
lect stranded on the hopeless breakers of intern- 
perance. . 

''What is the use, Ben ?" He said this slowly, 
almost solemnly. "What is the use ? Why 
scourge my soul ? Quit this drink? Why, I 
should be mad ! Be temperate ? That would take 
away from me that which causes me to forget 
myself. Who cares if my life be good or bad 
now ? I have no future, I am in the world because 
I cannot help myself. I might die, 'tis true; but 
that I care not whether I live or die, I would 
speedily solve the problem of the world to come. 
Were I to live soberly, where is the profit ? If I 
do not, whose loss is it? I would not be sober if 
I could. One week of reflection would be inex- 
pressible torment. I could not endure it. Ben, 
once you loved me as a brother. I forfeited your 
esteem; you loath me now. It is right, I sup- 
pose. I have no fortune, no friends, no home, no 
love and no hope in the future. And you ask 
me to cast away the only thing which can give 
me relief, the only thing which obliterates mem- 
ory and produces a surcease of my unutterable 
sorrow. No, Ben, you ask too much. What is 
the use ? It is too late to mend." 



852 THE PATHWATT TO 

The gentleman endeavored to lead his 
thoughts into a less sad channel. He bid him 
consider that he was yet on the sunny side of 
fifty years of life, and there might be some hap- 
piness in store for him yet. Men had reformed 
when older than he, and after having traversed 
the drunkard's degraded way for years, had at 
last returned to respectability and honor among 
men ? Might he not do the same ? 

"I think not, I am already doomed; my life is 
a dreary waste; I would not be sober to think 
about what I might have been, and, what I am 
and must be for the world. No, what's the use 
of it, Ben ? Would jou have me call up from her 
lonely grave under the pines, that loved one, who 
in her beauty and purity became my bride, to up- 
braid me forever-more for my beastliness ? 
Would 5^ou have me summon from the lowly 
tomb the form of as fair an a.ngel as ever came 
to earth to bless a father's heart and fill his soul 
with joy, to gaze upon me from those dark sad 
eyes, day and night and everywhere? And she 
would come, my withered flower, my loving 
Eulalie, from the sunny land where I laid her to 
rest, and her sweet girlish face would haunt me 
forever. God of Heaven ! I would not be sober. 
It would be more than mortal could'^ndure!" 

The tone, the manner, the emotions of that 
man, lately thrust into the street as a dog might 
be, were truly pathetic. A heart of stone would 
have been softened by it. It betrayed a noble 



EUIlSr MADE EASt 353 

spirit, chained in tlie snare of the drink demon. 
There-^was a pause when he concluded, which 
continued for the space of a minute or more. 
The two gentlemen were deeply moved. At last 
the drunkard's old chum spoke. 

''Have you any money, Tom ?" 

''Not a cent. Do you think that I would have 
loeen driven out of that place there if I had 
money ? No, Ben. I have had no meal to-day, 
and but one mug of beer, and I am awful dry." 

"If I go and order you a warm supper with a 
good strong cup of coffee, will you go home ?" 

"Home ? I have no home. I sleep wherever I 
can get a place — very often in stable lofts." 

"Come, Tom! we'll go down and get you a 
a supper. We were just going to get some oys- 
ters, and you will be one of our party." 

" Ko I won't, either. I want a dram. I must 
have one. I want a good strong hot punch, with 
plenty of pepper-sauce in it." 

"But I don't drink, you know, Tom." 

"Well, I won't be a charity patient for a dose 
of oysters, anyhow." 

"If we get a punch, will you stop at just one, 
Tom ? " 

"I won't promise that. I might have a good 
chance to get another, and how could I refuse." 

"Well, if you had some money after you had 
one punch, wouki you spend any of it for more 
drink to-night? " 

"No, Ben, I swearl would not." 



354 THE PATHWAY TO 

•Then here is a little change." And the gen- 
tleman handed him a trifle in coin. "That will 
pay for a drink, some snpper and a bed. And 
remember, Tom, I shall expect you to repay the 
amount when you have the money. I wonld 
have you regard it as a loan. K'ow take care of 
yourself, and come and see me at my store." 

He stretched forth his hand for the money with 
a nervous eagerness which betrayed his anxiety 
to possess the means of gratifying his insatiable 
thirst for a glass of hot liquor. Quickly thank- 
ing his old friend for his kind offices, he bade the 
two gentlemen good night and turned and walked 
with unsteady strides down the street. The two 
friends stood very quietJy under the glare of the 
gas light, gazing through the mist at the retreat- 
ing figure of the poor inebriate. ISTeither of them 
spoke for a full minute. Then the gentleman 
who had carried on the conversation with the 
wretched being who had just left them, said in a 
half abstracted way : 

" Poor Tom ! He was as noble a fellow as ever 
lived when we were boys and college mates. I 
wonder where he has been ? I have not seen 
him for the last three years. How rapidly he 
changes ! He was broken in reputation and for- 
tune then, but he seems to be altogether an out- 
cast now." 

" And you have known him long ? " asked the 
other 

"Long? We were boys together." 




^<kc-*Jll^' ^^i ""a^i^^i^ 



EUIIT MADE EASY. 357 

" You know Ms liistory tlien ? '' 

'' Oh, yes. Thomas Lawrence was once a man 
of fortune, and regarded as one of the most "bril- 
liant young men in the state of Georgia. He was 
a fine scholar, an elegant writer, and an eloquent 
speaker. His history is one of the saddest that 
can be imagined. Graduating at the university 
when in his twentieth year with the first honors 
of his class, he came home ; studied law, merely 
as an occupation of time ; was admitted to the 
bar and regarded as a rising man. No man 
stood higher in the popular esteem. "When just 
of age to entitle him to hold a seat, he was elect- 
ed a member of the legislature and attracted the 
attention of the leading men of the state by his 
ability and eloquence. Before his term was out 
he was married to one of the loveliest and most 
accomplished young ladies in the state. Thomas 
Lawrence was one of the most exemplary young 
men in college; never drank a drop of liquor In 
his life, as I have heard him say. 

"But somehow he had learned to drink while 
in the legislature. At first he was only an occa- 
sional drinker — did not get drunk at any time. 
Possessed of a large property and a warm, gener- 
ous nature, his home was alwa^^^s open for the 
reception of his friends. Tom finally introduced 
the side-board and a variety of fine liquors and 
wines. His hospitality was ample and generous, 
and his house was frequently the stopping place 
of the leading politicians of the state. Gradually 



858 THE PATHWAY TO 

the habit of drinking grew npon liim. From a 
hon-mvant among his friends in private, he sunk 
eventually to a tippler in public, and was fre- 
quently intoxicated. His wife, a loving and no- 
ble woman, saw the habit drawing its strong 
fetters about him with the utmost anxiety and 
the deepest grief. But he all the time grew 
worse. 

''By the time he was thirty he had become ^ 
drunkard — not exactly a sot, but wLat might be 
called a respectable ^drunkard — if there ca«i be 
such a thing. "Well, he had a beautiful little 
daughter of some eight summers, by this time, 
and his poor wife, still devoted to him, was 
dying by inches from grief. But Tom had lost 
that delicate preception and keen sense of honor 
which might have arrested his career toward 
what you have seen as his destiny-, and so he 
continued to drink and became, in no long time, 
a disgusting, sottish, gutter drunkard. The 
sensitive wife had suffered untold agonies. Her 
health was broken down, and at last she died of 
a broken heart. His fortune was about gone by 
that time, but his lovely little daughter could 
not be persuaded. to abandon her poor drunkard 
father. She clung to him with a touching devo- 
tion. Poor girl ! The duties she had under- 
taken were greater than her strength could sup- 
port. Just as she was entering upon the verge 
of womanhood the angel of death came to her 
and bore her away. Then Tom was left a lonely 



-RVIN MADE EASY. , 359 

wreck, and, as jovl see, lias drifted on and on, 
until lie lias reached the engulfing shoals at last. 
He will soon be swallowed up, and all that is 
mortal of him will be hurried away to the potters 
field ; if, indeed, he does not conclude to hide in 
the oozy bed of the Mississippi River. Poor Tom 
Lawrence ! He was a noble young man once." 

The story is told. It is true— true not only of 
poor Tom Lawrence, but of thousands of men all 
over the land to whom God has given intellectual 
power and every good that could contribute to 
the happiness and contentment of men upon 
earth. The pathway to ruin is made easy for 
thousands, who, but for their generous impulses, 
might ever remain temperate and prove to be 
the brightest ornaments of society. IN'o cold, 
sordid, calculating man ever became a drunkard. 
It is a sad truth that among the ranks of 
drunkards are to be found men of broad sym- 
pathies — men of noble generosity — men who can 
feel for others woes ; obliging and true hearted 
friends. Indeed these are more likely to become 
the victims of strong drink than any other class. 

Two friends who have been separated for a 
considerable time meet.* One drinks; the other 
is not in the habit of drinking. They pass con- 
gratulations. Each is very glad to meet the 
other. Old memories are revived — old scenes 
recalled in which eadi enacted a part. They 
talk matters over. Their friendship is cemented 
anew. 



360 THE PATHWAY TO 

"Why, James," says one, "I am so glad to see 
you, old chum. Let's go and 'have something,' 
just for old acquaintance sake." 

The other hesitates. '* Why, really, to , tell 
you the truth, "William, I am not in the hahit of 
drinking anything," he manages to say. 

^'Nor I, either, as a general rule; hut I occa- 
sionally take a little, especially when I meet an 
old and valued friend like yourself. So come 
along, old comrade, and let us try a glass of gen- 
erous punch; 'pon my word it won't hurt you. 
Just one, mind you. Really you would gratify 
me exceedingly.'^ 

The urgent request of the old friend quite un- 
arms him. Resolution vanishes, and he says, 
half regretfully : 

''Well, William, I will take a drink just this 
once with you.^^ And they go into a saloon. 
The drinks are set out, and James and William 
touch glasses and pledge a renewal of old friend- 
ships ; and there they stand and talk and sip 
their liquor. By the time their glasses are emp- 
tied, the alcohol is having its effect upon the 
healthy hrain and stomach of James and he feels 
that he can stand another drink, and even if he 
didn't, courtesy demands that he should recipro- 
cate the kindness of his friend. And so he calls 
out, " Here, barkeeper — two more !" And the 
drinks are mixed and set upon the bar before 
them, and they talk and sip the exhilarating 
fluid. By the time the second round is emptied, 



RUUS- MADE EASY. 361 

James has reached a condition when he does not 
care very much whether he stops at two drinks or 
not. And they emerge from the place. The 
hrain of the temperate James is all on fire. His 
eyes sparkle and his cheeks glow ; his tongue is 
loosened and he is himself astonished at the 
mass of intelligence he has,to impart to his friend 
concerning events which have happened since 
last they met. 

Unfortunate James ! There are other friends 
to be met yet in the future ; others who drink, 
and he is likely to meet them. He has just 
started along the pathway to ruin, and it is down 
grade to the end — to the pit of despair. How 
many have started down that way, just as James 
did — to oblige an old friend ! 

And this abominable habit of treating one an- 
other — of cementing new friendships, and sealing 
old ones in libations of alcoholic liquors — is re- 
sponsible for a vast amount of drunkenness and 
consequent wretchedness all over the land. 

'' Come, Mr. Hensleigh, you must join me in a 
glass of champagne — just one ; now «^o." She 
was beautiful as the houris who visited the faith- 
ful Moslem in his dreams of the Gardens of the 
Blest. And her voice was soft, low, and musical, 
and to his ears the plea came as a prayer. He 
was high spirited and chivalrous. "What could 
he do ? What resolution could withstand such 
an appeal from a being so beautiful as this 
temptress before him? INot his. "Really, Miss 



362 THE PATHWAY TO 

Markland, you have carried the fortress. I sur- 
render." He took the offered glass. He raised 
it and said, " I pledge to woman's tact and perse- 
verance," and turned off his bumper. It was his 
first glass. Well would it have "been for him 
and for her if it had been his last. But it was 
not. Ten 3^ears afterward, in the middle of the 
night, the once gifted and honored Harley Hens- 
leigh was borne bleeding, dying, to a wretched 
home, from a drunken brawl, and she, the once 
peerless Miss Markland, faded, worn and heart- 
broken, was there to receive the mangled body 
of him she had honored and trusted — him she 
had induced to take the pathway to ruin by 
strewing it with the sweetest flowers of love. 

This is no fancy sketch, but the brief outline 
history of two persons who lived upon the earth 
and have passed away. How bright the promise 
of life's morn to them ! How unutterably dark 
the evening fell ! But these were but two — only 
two. Multiply that by one hundred thousand, 
and then the number of such life-histories among 
our countrymen and countrywomen, begun by 
habits of social drinking, will not be reached. 
This paving the road to hell with the crystalized 
smiles of friendship and the precious ecstacy of 
love, is filling our jails, workhouses and peni- 
tentiaries with pupils preparing to enter the 
Academia of "Everlasting Shame and Con- 
tempt." It is filling thousands and thousands 
of homes with misery and woe. Wails of grief 



nvm MADE EASY. 863 

are borne on every Ibreeze that sweeps the Ibroad 
continent. And what causes all these manifes- 
tations ? Why this weeping among so many 
thousands of sad eyed women? Our social 
drinMng customs. It is not an American habit 
to resort to stimulating liqnor only at morning, 
noon, and night. All hours are chosen. The ac- 
cursed habit of "taking something with a friend" 
at any and all times during the day, the afternoon, 
the evening and the night, is peopling the under- 
world with victims, and cursing the earth with 
crime and wretchedness. In God's name let this 
custom of treating become a thing of the past. 

Sometimes we hear men say, '' My brain is cold 
as ice. Whisky don't effect me; I can drink all 
day, and all night too, for that matter, and not 
be in the least intoxicated." Passing by the 
probability that such an assertion is merely a 
boast without serious meaning, and the physio- 
logical improbability of its being true, even if 
those who say so are serious, we have a grave 
charge to enter against such persons. 

If it be true as asserted, that some are only 
slightly aifected by alcoholic stimulants, let not 
snch men entice others to become- their drinking 
companions. K alcoholic liquors don't affect 
you, and you feel that you must drink, in the 
name of humanity, in the name of mercy, for 
heaven's sake; and if none of these considerations 
affect you, then for your own sake, go, take your 
drink alone, and do not be the instrument of your 



364 THE PATHWAY TO 

neighbor's destruction ; for we know that strong 
drink does affect others —nay, that there are few 
men alive who can truthfully say that it does not 
affect them injuriously. Your invitation to drink 
may send him whom you invite on the steep down 
grade to ruin. 

A few drinks may set the brain on fire ; may 
unchain the tiger passion ; may lead the drinker 
to wield the weapons of the destroyer and send 
him trembling to the platform of -the gallows. 
On the day before Christmas, 1877, a young man 
named William Watkins, of Richmond, Missouri, 
started out in the early part of the day. He 
took a drink ; then another and another was 
swallowed. He became boisterous, rude, quar- 
relsome. Later in the day his brother Frank 
joined him, and he too drank of the reason de- 
stroying cup. The demon had possession of 
William Watkins. He was in a condition to do 
murder. He was on the pathway to destruction. 
He was a madman at large. People feared him ; 
he was dangerous. The services of the town 
marshal were called into requisition. Mr. Bernard, 
who filled that office, responded. While attempt- 
ing to take William Watkins into custody, Frank 
came up, drew a pistol and shot Mr. Bernard 
through the body. They carried him into a store 
near by ; in half an hour he was dead, and Frank 
Watkins was cowering in a felon's cell. 

"Will you take something?" Is it possible 
such an invitation could be extended and accept- 



,UVm MADE EASY. 865 

ed in Hichmond, in the very presence, as it were, 
of the clay-cold victim of passions kindled into 
demoniac fury Iby this same " something " that 

men drink ? 

And yet such invitations were given and ac- 
cepted, not by a few but by a multitude of the 
citizens of Richmond. Over there in that house 
of mourning lay Mr. Bernard, stark and still in 
the embrace of death ; and over yonder in the 
jail, conscious enough to realize the awful char- 
acter of the crime which he had committed, 
Frank Watkins trembled on his prison pallet ; 
and further away there is a household plunged 
into the deepest grief on account of the day's 
event. Christmas Eve had come, the morrow 
would dawn — the day of universal rejoicing in 
commemoration of the advent into the world of 
the Prince of Peace — and in the home of the 
Watkinses there was a vacant chair, and a voice 
that was wont to ring out in cheerful mirth was 
heard no more, A son, a brother of that house- 
hold, with the blood of a fellow mortal staining 
his conscience, was over there in the prison, await- 
ing his day of doom. And what caused all this 
sadness and woe ? The answer came in the moan 
of the wintry winds — strong drinlc. 

And jQi^ not only in Richmond, but in thous- 
ands of cities and villages throughout the land, 
men asked their friends to " take a little some- 
thing." "Something?" Aye, that something 

the " accursed beverage of liell," to madden the 
12 



S66 THE PATHWAY TO 

Ibrain, to steel tlie heart against every tendel* 
emotion and every gentle impulse. And there is 
no harm in a drink, they say. N'o harm ? And 
yon drink-maddened wretch draws the weapon 
of the slayer, and empurples his garments in the 
blood of his friend ! No harm in a drink ? Stag- 
gering and blaspheming, the brutalized drunkard 
seeks his wretched abode, and finds the patient 
suffering wife he won when he was a man and 
she a girl, waiting to receive him ; a demon spirit 
seizes him ; he takes up a chair, a club, a bar — 
anything that is heavy — and strikes her down ; 
blow after blow is dealt, until the victim is still 
in death at his feet ! No harm in a drink ? See 
that mother yonder! She has a heart to feel 
when clothed in her right mind. But now she has 
been to the fountain of woe and drank deep 
potations from it. She seeks her dreary abode. 
A little child watches her approach. Its little eyes 
brighten and its little hands are clapped in an 
ecstacy of joy. Mother! No; that drink-mad- 
dened being is a fiend of hell ! She approaches 
the child she has borne, and while its little heart 
is still rejoicing, she takes it up, swings it around, 
dashes its tender head against the hard wall, and 
then casts it from her, crushed, bleeding, dead! 
J^o harm in it? And it has nerved the hand of 
the father to slay the son he had begotten ; it 
has caused the son to imbrue his hands in the 
blood of his parents ; it has inspired the mother 
to murder her child, — more monstrous still, it has 



KUIK MADE EASY. 367 

generated a fiend in the hearts of daughters 
which actuated them to cruelly put to death the 
very mothers who brought them into the world. 
ISTo harm in a drink ? No ; not if all we dream or 
feax of that pandemonium where devils and 
damnables exist and suffer is to be established on 
earth, and become the normal condition of this 
brave and beautiful world in which we live, and 
where man alone is responsible for the miseries 
which afflicts at most but a part of the myriad 
millions of its inhabitants. 'No harm in it ? And 
yet we have seen that hundreds of thousands are 
made wretched by it every year in our land. 
The first drink is the first step on the road to de- 
struction ; and every successive one carries the 
drinker farther down the incline of the pathway 
which ends in the hopeless swamp of despair. 

And the way is made easy that leads to death. 
It is even made attractive at the first stages of its 
course. In the midst of a rough and dreary 
scene, it leads off through a green dell, smooth 
and shaded, with perfumes of flowers to scent 
the air, with murmuring waterfalls and a thous- 
and attractive surprises in the scenery along the 
route. Oh, it is so nice ! At first companions are 
numerous and charming, brilliant, witty and 
wise. How stupid the hum-drum crowds they 
left toiling over the arid hills appear to their 
consciousness now. And they go on and on, 
until the scenery that was so lovely on the first 
stages of the journey is all left behind. The 



368 THE PATHWAY TO EUIN MADE EASY 

very air has changed, and is thick and oppressive 
and laden with sickly vapors ; and the skies 
which bend above them have a wierd appearance; 
and their companions, so agreeable at the begin- 
ning, are now quarrelsome and offensive. And 
as they advance they begin to see dead men's 
bones around them ; and the countenances of the 
pilgrims become deformed, distorted and hideous. 
A little -further along, and they reach a Golgotha. 
The beings they see about them are festering in 
loathsome disease, and grimy in filth, and 
beastly in features ; and they hear around them 
wails and curses, and men and women carrying 
on the trade of butchering each other under cir- 
cumstances of the most horrible cruelty. Some, 
at this stage of the journey, would turn back. 
They make up their minds to do so. They turn 
about. Horrors seize them ! The way is blocked 
by ten thousand awful shapes. They are snared, 
fettered, and cast into the charnel lake, from 
which ascendeth up forever and ever the cries of 
human beings in the deep agony of despair. 
This is the pathway to ruin. And the arch- 
enemy of our race makes it attractive to the way- 
farer on the first stages of the journey. 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE IWAUGURATIOK OF THE EEFORM CLUBS. 

It was a niglit in August, 1871. Mr. J. K. 
Osgood, once a respectable and prosperous mer- 
chant of Gardiner, Maine, had been out on a 
drunken spree. At a late hour, his last dime 
having been expended for whisky, he staggered 
toward his wretched home. From affluence he 
had rapidly descended to abject poverty; from 
an honorable position in society he had sunk to 
the lowest level of degradation. He was not too 
drunk that night to reflect, probably because his 
money had become exhausted before he had ob- 
tained enough liquor to stupify him. Approach- 
ing his domicile, the light from a lamp streamed 
through tlie uacurtained window. He approached 
the window and gazed into the room. There sat 
his wife at work, with an expression of the 
deepest sorrow upon her countenance. For some 
moments he contemplated the scene and his 
heart was touched at her sufferings. Before he 
had entered his house he had registered a vow 
that, with God's help, he would never drink an- 
other drop of whisky. 



370 THE nTAUGUEATION OF 

For some days lie did not speak of tlie resolu- 
tion he had made, not even to his wife. But his 
failure to haunt the places where whisky and 
rum could be obtained was noticed by her, and 
he knew by her looks and her actions that she 
was surprised and gratified, and was watching his 
conduct with the tenderest solicitude. He soon 
proclaimed his determination to reform. Having 
become perfectly satisfied of his ability to con- 
quer the habit which had grown upon him, his 
next desire was to assist others to throw ofl:' the 
shackles of the debasing slavery. 

There was in Gardiner a lawyer who, like 
Osgood, had lost his business, his friends, his 
honor and his money through the evil habit of 
drinking. He and Mr. Osgood had been chums 
in drunkenness. To him the reformed drunkard 
went with prayers and entreaties to break away 
from the slavery of rum. After much effort he was 
led to take the pledge of abstinence. Then the 
two reformed topers concluded to work together 
to save others from the degradation which they 
had reached. It was in January, 1872, when 
these two men, strong in faith and bold in heart, 
undertook to hold the first meeting in behalf of 
the Reform Club temperance movement. The 
public notice of the meeting was given in the 
following words : 

Refoemees' Meeting. — There will be a meet- 
ing of reformed drinkers at City Hall, Gardiner, 
on Friday evening, January 19th, at 7 o'clock. 



THE KEFORM CLtJBS. 871 

A cordial invitation is extended to all occasional 
drinkers, constant drinkers, hard drinkers, and 
young men who are tempted to drink. Come 
and hear what rum has done for us. 

The invitation was accepted by a multitude of 
the drinking companions of the signers to the 
call, and by a large number of others who were 
curious to hear the story of rum's doings. .Mr. 
Osgood and his first disciple, the lawyer, made 
remarks of an off-hand character, telling their 
hearers what had happened to them in conse- 
quence of their intemperate habits. The meeting 
was a great success. At the conclusion the pledge 
was offered, and eight of the drunkards of Gardi- 
ner came forward and signed it. 

There were now ten reformers in that place. 
They organized a club which they named the 
" Gardiner Temperance Keform Club." Jn less 
than two months it numbered more than, a hun- 
dred members, composed exclusively of reformed 
drinkers. The movement spread with extraordi- 
nary rapidity through Maine and New Hampshire. 
Before June, the reform clubs in those states 
numbered between fifteen and twenty thousand 
members. During the first year of the move- 
ment, the labors of the reformers were confined 
almost exclusively to the cities of the two states 
named. 

In June, 1873, Mr. Osgood, assisted by Mr. 
Drew, who had accomplished great things in the 
West, inaugurated the reform club movement in 



372 THE II^AUGUEATION OV 

Massachusetts. Their success was astonishing. 
In Haverhill, one club soon numbered three 
thousand members. The movement spread over 
that state, and in few months a hundred thousand 
names were enrolled. Mr. Drew, like Mr. Osgood, 
Dr. E-eynolds and Francis Murphy, was a re- 
formed drunkard, and one of Mr. Osgood's early 
converts. 

In October, 1870, Francis Murphy, who had be- 
come bankrupt in fortune, degraded in character 
and miserable in every respect through intemper- 
ate habits, while confined in the city jail of 
Portland, Maine, was converted through the in- 
strumentality of Captain Cyrus Sturdivant, an 
earnest and philanthropic Christian gentleman of 
that city. Having been released from prison, 
Mr. Murphy commenced his labors as a mission- 
ary in the cause of temperance and Christianity. 
His first appearance as a lecturer was in the city 
of Portland, and was a pronounced success. 
Through his personal exertions the Portland Re- 
form Club was organized. Then he went abroad 
into the state and adjoining states, and finally 
through the infiuence of temperance workers he 
visited the West. In Illinois, at Freeport and 
other important towns, he led temperance revivals 
wliich were the means of gathering thousands 
into the reform clubs. Then he j ourneyed into 
Iowa, and wherever he went immense multitudes 
gathered to hear him and hundreds and thous- 
ands signed the pledge and forswore the use of 



THE EEFOEM CLUBS. 373 

strong drink. Never before had the people of 
Iowa been so profoundly agitated on the subject 
of temperance. At Des Moines, Council Bluffs, 
Davenport, Dubuque, Muscatine, Marshall and 
other places great temperance meetings were held 
and the reform clubs were recruited by the 
thousands. Everywhere Mr. Murphy went the 
cause was advanced and the public conscience 
aroused to a realization of the terrible evils of 
intemperance. The movement seemed contagious. 
In towns to which Mr. Murphy had never pene- 
trated, others took up the work, raised the tem- 
perance banner, and called for volunteers to en- 
list and put on the badge of blue in token of their 
hostility to alcohol. Mr. Murphy's first cam- 
paign, notwithstanding the many obstacles in 
his way, was a complete success. 

Maine has been the nursing mother of many of 
the noblest and truest of the temperance reform- 
ers. Hon. Neal Dow, ex-Senator Morrill, ex- Vice 
Preside Qt Hamlin, and others scarcely less dis- 
tinguished have ably represented the political 
phases of the question. From Maine also came 
some of the ablest of the early reformers, and to 
Maine men we are indebted for the inauguration 
of the Reform Club Movement. Osgood and 
Drew, Murphy and Dr. Henry A. Reynolds, have 
all begun their work in Maine. 

We have already spoken of the work inaugu- 
rated by Osgood, Drew and Murphy. It is now 
our duty to say something of the labors of Dr. 



374 THE rr^AUGUKATIOjN- OF 

Henry A. Eeynolds, wlio has accomplished a 
work equal to that of any modern reformer, 
which still endures, for it seems — 
*'To him has destiny a spirit given 

That unrestrainedly still onward sweepu, 
To scale the skies long since hath striven, 
And all Ga.rth*s pleasures overleaps." 

— Goeihe^s Faust. 

Dr. Reynolds, like Gough and many others of 
the most successful and useful workers, experi- 
enced in his own person the terrible eflects of 
alcohol before he became a temperance lecturer 
and leader. 

Dr. Henry A. Reynolds was born in the city of 
Bangor, Maine, in 1839. In that city he spent 
his boyhood days, attended the public schools 
and fitted for college. Selecting the medical pro- 
fession, after due preparation he entered as a 
student in the medical department of Harvard 
University, from which he graduated. He had 
inherited an appetite for strong drink, and his 
excesses very greatly hindered his success in the 
profession he had chosen. The war coming on, 
Dr. Reynolds obtained a position as surgeon in 
one of the volunteer regiments from his native 
state, and went into the field with it. He served 
three years in this position, and was then mus- 
tered out of the service. Meanwhile all his 
efforts to conquer the habit of alcoholic stimula- 
tion had failed. He was going lower and lower 
into the depths of degradation with every pass- 



' THE EEFORM CLtJBS. 375 

ing week. He had almost despaired of ever be- 
coming a sober and "useful member of society. 
One day in 1873, during the temperance revival 
brought about by the Women's Crusade, the 
Christian Women of Bangor held a prayer-meet- 
ing in one of the churches to pray for the inebri- 
ates, that they might have strength given them 
to break the fetters of an unhallowed and ruin- 
ous habit. Dr. Reynolds was not among those 
who attended that meeting. But while the de- 
vout women presented their petition to Almighty 
Grod in the house consecrated to His service, Dr 
Reynolds was in his office, communing in his 
own way with the same divine source of power. 
He had lost all faith in his own strength, and 
now he had reached the point when he was ready 
to cast himself by a full surrender on the sover- 
eign mercy of God. He rose from his knees with 
a full determination to sign the pledge on the very 
first opportunity which presented itself. 

Two days afterward, that opportunity was 
offered at the City Hall in Bangor. Under the 
auspices of the Women's Christian Temperance 
Union, a great mass-meeting for the promotion 
of the cause of temperance was held. Dr. Rey- 
nolds, who had been on the very verge o^ an 
attack of deliriinri tremens a few days before, 
was now sufficiently recovered to be perfectly 
conscious of his actions. In the presence of a 
great audience, composed of people, a majority 
of whom were his personal acquaintances and 



376 THE LN-ArorKATiox or 

familiar vrith Ms intemperate habits, he went 
forward and signed the pledge. 

That act Tvas the turning point in his destiny. 
Disenthralled himself, his sympathies went out 
toward those who were yet in bonds. He 
naturally sought out those who had been his 
boon companions in the days of his slavery. He 
had come to the conclusion that God's grace was 
as necessary to the salvation of the drunkard as 
to any other class of sinners. After laboring 
sometime among the inebriates of Bangor, with- 
out definite aim, furdier than to point out to 
them the way of escape, and endeavor to save 
them from the de£:radation of the drunkards, it 
became clear to him that permanent results could 
not be secured without organization. He there- 
fore caused to be printed in the newspapers a 
call to "reformed driDking men, to meet with him 
on the evening of the 10th of September, 1874. 
Eleven persons responded, and they organized a 
reform club, the first of the kind in the country. 
Dr. Reynolds was 'elected its first president. 

It mav be necessary to state here -that the E,e- 
foim Movement embraces three distinct lines of 
clubs : the Osgood Clubs, the Murphy Clubs 
and J:he Reynolds or '*Dare to do Right'' Clubs. 
The bases of these are the same, but there are 
some shades of difi'erence, which will be fully 
exjDlained farther on in this volume 

Bangor at that time was the stronghold of 
liquor selling and drinking in the state of Maine. 



^niE REFOEM CLUBa. 377' 

Br. McKinley lias asserted that the people of 
Bangor were in the habit of consuming more 
liquor ^er capita than the people of any city in 
the United States, except Rome, New York. 
ThBre is no doubt that the drinking habit was 
exceptionally strong th^re. The Bangor Reform 
Club, of eleven members, adopted as their motto, 
"Dare to do Right." Each one of them felt him- 
self a missionary to rescue his fellow men from 
the curse of strong drink. It was an organiza- 
tion especially designed for men who had been 
drinkers of intoxicating liquors. In some re- 
spects the movement was not unlike the Old 
Washingtonian Movement. In essential respects 
it differed. The "Dare to do Right" clubs invite 
an alliance with the moral agencies of the 
churches, and profess to do all things only 
through God's help. Nor are persons who have 
never been intemperate or drinkers of strong 
liquors debarred from participation in the labors 
of the campaigns against alcohol. 

The success of the first reform club at Bangor 
was truly wonderful. In a few weeks after its 
organization its members could be numbered by 
the hundreds. The city had never been so deeply 
agitated on the subject of temperance and relig- 
ion before. Dr. Reynolds now had all the work 
he could do. Intelligence of the sudden and 
successful revolution at Bangor was quickly dif- 
fused throughout the state. Dr. Re} nolds was 
invited to "come over into Macedonia" and help 



878 THJE iXAUGUEAtlOK O'^ 

the cause. Applications for Ms services as an 
organizer poured in from every quarter. His 
mission was now fairly entered upon. He visited 
many cities in the east, and the work went on. 
The original purpose of reform clubs was to 
gather into social organizations men only over 
the age of eighteen years, who had been ad- 
dicted to the use of strong drink. Into Dr. Rey- 
nolds' clubs women were not admitted as into 
the clubs organized by Mr. Osgood and Francis 
Murphy. 

The method adopted by Mr. Reynolds is exceed- 
ingly simple. As before stated, eligibility to 
these clubs consists in the candidates having 
attained the age of eighteen years, and in hav- 
ing been addicted to the use of strong drink. 
Having signed the pledge, such persons are 
earnestly exhorted to persevere, and an appeal 
is made to Christian women to throw around 
them the protection of their regards and social 
influence. It is. Dr. Reynolds' effort to impress 
upon the better class — indeed all citizens — to 
uphold and sustain the club by substantial 
assistance. It is the practice in all clubs to give 
a repentant prodigal who signs the pledge three 
cheers. This is done in the business meetings 
where ladies and outsiders do not come. The 
meetings of the clubs should always be held on 
secular evenings. On Sunday evenings it is the 
custom for the clubs to join the Women's 
Christian Temperance Union in public meetings 



THE REFOKM CLUBS. 379 

in some church, or public hall. The order of 
exercises is usually reading the scriptures, 
prayer, brief addresses by reformed men, and 
singing hymns such as "The Morning Light is 
Breaking," ''Hold the Fort," "Pull for the Shore," 
"Hock of Ages," and "I Need Thee Every Hour." 
These meetings partake largely of the character 
of Methodist love-feasts. 

Through the influence of Mrs. Mary G. "Ward, 
President of the Women's Christian Temperance 
Union of Salem, Massachusetts, Dr. Keynolds 
went over into that Commonwealth. The same 
remarkable success which had attended his ef- 
forts in Maine, accompanied his labors in this 
new field. Salem was mightily stirred and drunk- 
enness was almost entirely suppressed in a very 
short time. The first club organized there was 
on the 9th of September, 1875. The movement 
spread rapidly. The next place to feel the force 
of the tidal wave of reform was Marblehead, 
then Gloucester, Peabody, Waltham and numer- 
ous other towns were successively captured from 
the forces of King Alcohcjl. In less than nine 
months seventy-five clubs had been organized in 
Massachusetts, numbering altogether nearly 
thirty thousand members. 

The reform clubs organized by Dr. Reynolds 
adopted the red ribbon badge, which has been 
accepted everywhere as a sign recognized and 
responded to by all good Christian people with 
deep interest and sympathy. " Dare to do Hight " 



380 THE INAUGURATIOIS' OF 

lias "become a watchword among reformers all 
over the land, and a favorite among the familiar 
and sug2:estive expression of the times. 

The following is the pledge or resolution taken 
"by th3 Red Ribbon Reformers : 

Whereas, Having seen and felt the evils of 
intemperance, therefore 

Resolved, That we, the undersigned, for our 
own good and the good of the world in which we 
live, do hereby promise and engage, with the 
help of Almighty God, to abstain from buying, 
selling, Of using alcoholic or malt beverages, 
wine and cider included. 

And that they may accomplish the greatest 
amount of good and work more effectually, they 
constitute themselves into a club under a consti- 
tution, a brief synopsis of which we give : 

1. The organization to be known as the 

Reform Club. 

2. It is the duty of every member to work 
earnestly to induce persons addicted to the use of 
strong drink to sign the pledge. 

3. Male persons of the age of eighteen and up- 
wards, who have been addicted to the use of 
strong drink, and have signed the pledge, are 
eligible to membership, 

4. Declares the ofScers to be a President, Vice 
President, Secretary, Financial Secretary, Treas- 
urer, one Steward, two Marshals, one Sergeant- 
at-Arms, Executive Committee of five, and 
Finance Committee of three. 

5. Provides that the president shall preside, 



THE REFORM CLUBS 381 

jand in his absence the senior vice-president, at 
all meetings, preserve order, etc., and see that 
the officers of the club perform their duty ; call 
special meetings at the request of twelve mem- 
bers of the club and cause the secretary to notify 
the members of such meetings. 

6. Provides for the exercise of the duties of the 
office of president by the senior vice-president, 
in the absence of the president. 

7. Prescribes the duties of the secretary ; that 
he shall keep a record of proceedings, notify the 
members of meetings, attest bills approved by 
the president and executive and finance commit- 
tees. 

8. Fixes the duties of the financial secretary ; 
that he shall keep a just account between himself 
and the club, and the club and its members, re- 
ceive money and pay it over to the treasurer, 
taking a receipt for it. Must furnish a statement 
of accounts to the president, when called upon. 

9. Determines the duties of the treasurer. He 
shall give bond for the faithful performance of 
his duties ; receive all monies from the financial 
secretary, and pay out only on orders voted by 
the club and approved by the finance commit- 
tee, etc. 

10. Prescribes the duties of the executive com- 
mittee ; to take general oversight of the af- 
fairs of the club, examine and report upon 
all violations of the pledge, and report quarterly 
the progress of the club. 



382 THE IIs^AUGURATIOISr OF 

11. Fixes the duties of the finance committee ; 
to examine all bills, andit the accounts of the 
financial secretary and treasurer, and report their 
condition to the club. 

12. Declares it shall be the duty of the marshal 
to take charge of all public prosecutions. 

13. The steward to have charge of the property 
of the club not under the control of any of its 
officers. 

14. The duty of the sergeant-at-arms to keep 
the door and assist in preserving order. 

15. Fifteen members declared a quorum for the 
transaction of business. 

16. If the application of any one to become a 
member should be objected to, it requires a 
majority of two-thirds of the members voting, to 
admit the applicant to membership. 

17. Inhibits political or sectarian discussion. 

18. Fixes the time of electing officers on the 
last Wednesday in December, and the time of 
installation on the first Wednesday in January. 

19. Members violating their pledge to forfeit 
their membership. They may be restored by 
acknow^ledgement, and the payment of twenty- 
five cents and signing the constitution as in the 
case of new members. 

20. The president to lay information concern- 
ing violations of the pledge before the executive 
committee. 

The constitution embraces seven other articles, 
relating to the management of the business of 



*HE EEFOEM CLUBS. 883 

\h.e clnlb, and to the method of removing officers, 
i^nd filling vacancies caused loy resignations or 
otherwise, and are not deemed of sufficient im- 
portance to give in this place 

In three essential respects, all reform clubs, 
whether patterned aftered after those organized 
by Osgood, Murphy or Keynolds, are the same 
in spirit and purpose. They all require, first, 
total abstinence ; second, reliance upon God's 
help in all things ; and third, that every member 
shall be a missionary to induce others to sign 
the pledge. 

In the Osgood, or Royal Purple Heform Club, 
men and women are admitted to membership 
and a participation in the business of all meet- 
ings, public and private. Discussions of political 
and denominational questions are permitted. 

In the Murphy, or Blue Ribbon Clubs, men and 
women are alike to be found equally participa- 
ting in the discussions and business of the clubs. 
Some latitude in discussion is also permitted, 
but none of the clubs are distinctively * sectarian 
or political in character. 

The great work being consummated by the 
Reform Club movement cannot, as yet, be fully 
stated. It is certain that the Washingtonian 
movement was a feeble agency compared to the 
tremendous force gathered in the mighty tide thus 
sweeping all over the country. Should this spirit 
of aggressive temperance work continue to pro- 
ceed with the same force which has characterized 



384 THE INAUGURATION OV 

the movement heretofore, there will he no more 
saloons in 1880, because there will be no patrons. 
There were, in 1877, it was estimated, no less than 
one million five hundred thousand persons en- 
rolled in the various Reform Clubs of the country. 

This new style of temperance work quite dis- 
concerts the enemies of the temperance cause. 
There is no manifestation of a fanatical spirit; the 
temperance lecturers and workers do not empty 
vials of wrath against the whisky sellers ; there 
are no visitations of saloons or interference with 
the business of dram-selling. The missionaries 
of the clubs go to the drinkers and plead with 
them to quit. They are, for the most part, men 
who have travelled that way themselves ; they 
know the weaknesses of those to whom they ap- 
peal ; they are thoroughly conversant with the 
temptations to which the inebriate is exposed; 
they know all about the terrible drink-hunger 
which assails the victim whenever he attemipts 
to stop, and they are able to show him how he 
may conquer it. Thus converts are made, the 
number of saloon patrons is diminished, and the 
business of the whisky seller is undoubtedly in- 
jured. Yet how can he blame the men who quit — 
who keep their money rather than give it to him. 
Unless he is lost to every feeling of humanity, he 
cannot blame the sot who quits drinking whisky. 

One of the best evidences of the completeness 
of the triumph of this temperance reform move- 
ment is found in the evident alarm of the whole 



THE EEFOEM CLUBS 885 

I 
. I 

lienor selling fraternity. In many cities and 
towns they have held meetings to devise ways 
and means of arresting the tendency to sobriety. 
They have passed resolutions denouncing the 
doctrine of total abstinence. They have gone 
further. It is scarcely credible, yet it is a sad 
truth, that saloon-keepers have called to their 
aid the most brutal ^nd degraded of their patrons, 
supplied them with liquors- gratuitously ; pre- 
sented them with the badges of the reform 
clubs, and sent them forth reeling through the 
streets, for the purpose of casting disgrace upon 
the movement. 

But, with God's help, the " devices of the 
wicked shall perish." The tidal wave rolls on. 
Stronghold after stronghold is overborne and 
swept away. The light of love and happiness 
dawns again in homes rendered dark and wretch- 
ed by the spell cast upon them by the great ene- 
my of peace, love and domestic happiness. God 
grant that the work may go on until the last fet- 
tered slave of a brutal habit may be liberated. 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

THE TEMPEEAIS'CE EEVIVAL COKDUCTED BY EEAN"- 

CIS MXIKPHY. 

''God moves in a mysterious way His wonders 
to perform." Perhaps never before was the truth 
contained in tlie poet's song more completely 
exemplified than in the career of Francis Mur- 
phy. Perhaps no man of our times has exerted 
a wider or a more healthful influence on the pub- 
lic sentiment than Mr. Murphy. His history ^ in 
many respects, is a remarkable one. In a little 
thatched cottage,. situated on an elevation over- 
looking the city and bay of Wexford, Ireland, 
Francis Murphy was ushered into the world on 
the 24th of April, 1886. His parents were in 
humble life, so indigent indeed that the very 
cottage in which they lived, mean as it was, con- 
stituted part of a landed estate adjacent to the 
city of Wexford. His father was seized by an 
acute disorder which terminated his life a short 
time before the birth of Francis^ so that, to use 
the pathetic expression of the great temperance 
apostle, he ''never knew a father's face or a fath- 
er's smile." The worldly condition of the Mur- 



FRANCIS MUEPHY. 387 

phys was not quite that of absolute penury and 
want, nor was their situation above the necessity 
for constant exertion to keep the wolf from the 
door. 

The care of a family of small children afforded 
Mrs. Murphy abundant and laborious occupa- 
tion. The children, as soon as old enough, had 
imposed upon them steady and laborious duties. 
All had to work. 

The boyhood days of Francis Murphy did not 
differ materially from the experience and vicissi- 
tudes through which most Irish peasant lads are 
called upon to pass. The cottage in which the 
family resided, though unpretentious, was situ- 
ated in the midst of scenery which for loveliness 
and beauty is scarcely to be surpassed outside 
of Erin's green isle. There was a little garden 
plot about the cottage, in which were cultivated 
some of the most necessary vegetables, and a 
few choice Howers. Before it sparkled the quiet 
waters of Wexford harbor, and farther away 
stretched the illimitable sea. On one side, in 
plain view, was the quaint old city; back of the 
house broad fields stretched away up the distant 
hill-slopes. Amid such scenes as these young 
Murphy received his earliest impressions, and 
here were born in the tender j^ears of his yotith 
those aspirations of the soul which have exerted 
more or less influence over his subsequent life. 

The parents of Mr. Murphy were strict Roman 
Catholics in faith. His mother appears to have 



388 THE TE:!krPERA]N'CE EEVIVAL 

"been a very devout and sincere Christian. The 
religions faith which inspired her, however, was 
so intense that she could not think of allowing 
her children to attend aJS'ational school, and the 
parish schools provided bv the Catholic clergy 
were not kept open continuously and do not ap- 
pear to have been very good schools, even during 
the time when they were kept open. Thus the 
early educational advantages of Francis Murphy 
were of the most meager character. 

Mr. Murphy evidently possesses no pleasant 
reminiscences of school-days. It is a part of his 
history of which he frequently speaks, but al- 
ways with bitterness. The master under whose 
government he was placed was an austere man, 
and one Mr. Murphy always considered unneces- 
sarily harsh and cruel. This opinion may be in 
part the offspring of prejudice on account of a 
great ''flogging" which he once received from 
the "lord of the birchen rod." This punishment 
its recipient experienced great difficulty in for- 
giving, and even now, after the lapse of more 
than a quarter of a century, Mr. Murphy declares 
that he cannot recall the circumstance without 
bitterness, and although through grace he has 
been enabled to forgive the cruel act of oppres- 
sion, as he still regards it, still he cannot revert 
to it without unpleasant feelings. 

The early surroundings of the temperance lec- 
turer were not calculated to cause an abhorrence 
of the social vice of driij^ng. Even in the days 



COKDUCTEB BY FRANCIS MUEPHT 389 

of Ms tender youth ne became familiar with the 
taste of liquor. It was the custom of his country 
and his people to show hospitality by offering 
whisky, and he preserves vivid recollections of 
the festive occasions in the thatched cottage 
when tables were spread with the whitest of Irish 
linen, and loaded with such delicacies as the 
means of the family would allow them to procure. 
An important element in all such feasts was an 
abundant supply of whisky. One would have 
been regarded mean not to offer a noigin of 
whisky; and people the world over, whatever 
they may be, do not like to be regarded by their 
associates as stingy ; especially would such an 
implication be galling to an Irishman or an irish- 
woman. On these occasions, young Francis and 
the rest of the children would be banished to the 
kitchen. It would have been highly improper 
for them to be seen by the guests. But Mr. 
Murphy, in speaking of those years of his life, 
informs us that an old and valued friend of the 
family used to come to the cottage, and his mother 
would bring him " a dhrop of the crather " in a 
tumbler or in a noigin, the latter being a little 
wooden cup or mug usually holding from a gill 
and a half to half a pint. This friend used to 
put some water in the whisky, and then dip it 
out in a teaspoon and give it to Francis to drink. 
Thus he learned to love the taste of whisky while 
yet a child. 
As he grew up, Francis Murphy began to en- 



390 THE teMperakce revival 

tertain aspirations for a "broader sphere of action 
tlian was presented to Mm in the contracted 
space of Ms native town. When he was in his 
fifteenth year he went to live in a neighboring 
castle with his mother's landlord. His position 
in that place was that of servant, and when his 
master was sober — not a very frequent occur- 
rence — he was subjected to treatment which was 
excessively galling to his sensitive spirit. When 
his master got on one of "his high cantys," 
which he frequently did, both would drink on 
amicable terms until each would have more than 
was good for him. At this service he was ex- 
posed to the greatest dangers. He had already 
felt what it was to be intoxicated before he had 
reached his fifteenth year, and before he was six- 
teen years of age he had been several times 
drunk. His situation was not at all agreeable, 
and he used to visit his mother's cottage, look 
out upon the bay and watch with eager interest 
the great ships sailing to and fro with their rich 
cargoes. He would gaze out upon the great 
blue sea stretching away to distant continents, 
and his heart j^earned to traverse that sea. Amer- 
ica was the Mecca of all his hopes and aspira- 
tions. Oh, how his soul longed for those shores, 
where he felt that he would be free from the 
life of servility and bondage, which he believed 
awaited him in his native land. 

But he hesitated to make known the desire of 
his heart to his mother. He knew it would give 



CONDUCTED BY EKANCIS MUEPHY. 391 

her pain. But at last lie mustered sufficient 
resolution to tell her. The danger to which she 
^ knew he was exposed at the castle inclined her 
to look with favor on his project. It was settled 
in the family that he should come to America. 

It was in the spring of the year 1852. Francis 
Murphy, then sixteen years of age, w-as pre- 
paring to bid adieu to his native land for the 
distant shores of the United States. The last 
week he ever spent in old Ireland was with his 
mother in the thatched cottage overlooking the 
Harbor of Wexford. It was a week which Mr. 
Murphy can never forget. His mother counseled 
him, prayed with him and blessed him as only a 
mother can bless a beloved child about to go 
away from her forever. His time was occupied 
principally in preparing for the voyage, and in 
the society of his mother. She was packing his 
trunk. His clothing was laid out. His mother 
would take up a garment, gaze at it w^ith an 
abstracted air, and tears would flow down her 
cheeks. At last the time came for his departure. 
The ship would sail the next morning. From 
the door of the cottage he watched the sun sink 
in the west, and then the shadows gathered 
deeper and deeper over the ba}^, and night's 
sable curtain descended over the quaint old 
town. ''Sit with me to-night, my son," Lis 
mother said, and they drew their chairs close 
together and sat down. One o'clock came, and 
mother and son were still sitting there, silent as 



392 THE TEMPERANCE REVIVAL 

the stones of the cliimney place. They had not 
spoken twenty words through that long vigil. 
It was their last night together on earth. They^ 
waited for the conveyance that was to carry 
him and his trunk to the wharf. 

The hour came at last. The lumbering vehicle 
drew up at the cottage door. The time came for 
him to be off. "He knelt before his mother and 
she laid her hand upon his head and then gave 
him her parting blessing. His trunk was tum- 
bled on the vehicle, he quickly mounted and was 
soon lost in the distance. The ship spread h^r 
.sails to the breeze, and soon the shores of old 
Ireland were fading from the view of our young 
adventurer. The great ocean spread all around 
him. 

Seven weeks afterward, Francis Murphy, re- 
joicing and exultant, was making his way to a 
boarding house in New York, a stranger in a 
strange land, a ''raw Irish lad^' seeking his for- 
tune on the battle-field of life. 

One of the first things the youthful Murphy did 
after his arrival and establishment in suitable 
quarters in the tavern was to call for '^something 
to take." He had made a safe voyage, and found 
himself in a pleasant place, and why should he 
not celebrate his good fortune "in a bit of a 
spree.'' The people he met all seemed pleasant 
and sociable, and he was elated at having safely 
touched the shores of the land of his desires. 

The taste of the liquor was pleasant. He 



CONDUCTED BY FEANCIS MURPHY. 393 

found companionsliip with men from Ms own 
country, and he drank again and invited others 
to drink. In the midst of the great strange city, 
young Murphy, all unmindful of the coldness and 
cruelty of the mass by which he was surrounded, 
drank and treated everybody, and be assured 
that under such circumstances he did not want 
for a crowd ready to fawn upon him and take 
drinks with him. At the end of three weeks 
spent in riotous dissipation, young Murphy be- 
came sensible of his fatal errors by being turned 
out of the boarding-house or tavern, penniless, 
and without even the things of value which he 
had brought across the water. Here he was 
turned out destitute in a great city among strang- 
ers. His money all gone, his friends — save the 
mark — had vanished. They only wanted the 
^'raw lad's drinks," and finding he had no more^ 
money, they had no further use for him. 

But the nature of Mr. Murphy was elastic and 
hopeful. He soon succeeded in interesting sev- 
eral persons in his behalf who helped him to a 
place. He resolved now to repair the mischief 
he had wrought during his first three weeks in 
the country. For a few days his resolutions 
were maintained, and then he yielded to the 
temptation. He did not remain very long in his 
place, when he was again set adrift — almost des- 
titute, and we may say friendless — for with 
money friends too depart. By the advice of 
some fellow countrymen he concluded to go to 



394 THE TEMPEKANCE EEVIVAL. 

Quebec. Arriving there, he found no opening for 
Ibusiness, and not having money enough to return 
to New York, he resolved to go to Montreal. 
There he was enabled to secure a situation. If 
it was not just the kind of place which met his 
expectations, it yet afforded the means to meet 
present necessities. In this situation he remain- 
ed about fifteen months, and then he was dis- 
charged on account of his drinking habits. 
Under such circumstances the opportunity for a 
re-engagement in the Dominion of Canada could 
scarcely be expected. What could he do ? Noth- 
ing was leffc him but to return to the United 
States. He sought work on a farm in the interior 
of the state of New York. Here he learned to 
"talk court language to Buck and Bright." This 
driving an ox team was a considerable decline of 
his expectations. He was still subjected to 
temptations and always yielded. But his eyes 
were opened to the folly of his course. He con- 
cluded to go further into the interior, where 
temptations would be less frequent, and there 
learn to live a cincumspect life. 

He obtained employment, and by his assidui- 
ty, sobriety and good behavior he soon found 
himself respected by the people. In the neigh- 
borhood lived a beautiful and intelligent girl, 
with whom he became acquainted. Young Mur- 
phy was possessed of the gallantry characteristic 
of his countrymen in a large measure. He be- 
came enamored of the fair girl, and possessing 



Conducted by frakcis murphy. 395 

wonderful personal magnetism, he succeeded in 
winning her affections and they were married. 

At this time Murphy was only a little more 
than eighteen years of age, and married. He 
now felt more than ever the necessity for temper- 
ate living and persistent exertion. He was 
laborious and pains-taking, and being possessed 
of good capacity, he had established for his little 
family a comfortable home, and slowly and 
steadily was laying by a little hoard of the need- 
ful gold. 

Then an elder brother of Mr. Marphy came to 
them. This was a source of great satisfaction to 
them. After some time spcyit in the country, the 
brother failed to be pleased with that region. 
!N"or was Francis succeeding altogether accord- 
ing to the desires of his heart. The process of 
accumulation was too slow. The brothers con- 
sulted together, and finally concluded to seek a 
location where they might reasonably hope to 
gain wealth more rapidly. 

The resolution was reached to change his 
place of residence. Through friendly relations 
he was induced to select the city of Portland, 
Maine, as his future home. The removal was 
effected and the Murphy brothers began to cast 
about them for a business that would prove 
largely and quickly remunerative. Francis had 
long entertained a desire to go into the hotel 
business. A public life of that sort, he believed, 
would be the quickest and most agreeable way 



396 THE TEMPER A TTCE REVIVAL 

to a competence and influence among Ms fellow 
men. His wife was consnlted, and as he liad 
feared, was opposed to it. Here was a serious 
trouble to him, for he disliked to disoblige her. 
But his mind was made up and he resolved to 
act in accordance with his own judgment. 

Mr. Murphy had promised his wife that he 
would " not sell whisky except respectably." 
Then he had solemnly "pledged his honor to her 
that he would not drink anything himself. But 
she was not happy ; 'her heart was full of fore- 
boj3ings of evil. 

The Murphys rented the Bradley house, cor- 
ner of Commercial a^d India streets, Portland. 
It was furnished in a comfortable style, and 
there, in accordance with previous arrangements, 
the family of Francis was removed to the hotel 
which was to be their residence. 

The business was commenced in due time. 
The geniality and tact of the brothers brought 
them custom. Their house was popular , and 
they made money rapidly. At first Francis 
kept his resolve. He endeavored to "sell liquor 
respectably," and abstained from drinking it 
himself. In the course of time Mr. Murphy's 
brother concluded to retire from the business, 
and Francis became the sole proprietor. He did 
not drink then, and prosperity followed his 
efforts. 

But with increase of business his circle of 
friends was enlarged. They used to ask him to 



COKBUCTED BY I^RAISTCIS MURPHY. 397 

drink. But his invariable answer was, "it is 
impossible." At last the time came for the 
tempter to have full power over him. Friends 
came to him : " Come, Mr. Murphy, take a drink." 
" It is impossible ; remember my wife and chil- 
dren." " Then come alon^^ and take a glass of ale 
with us. Surely that will not affect you." And 
he yielded. That glass of ale aroused the demon 
within him. He drank another and another, and 
in a brief space of time he had gone from ale to 
whisky, and was a confirmed sot. His wife saw 
this process of demoralization going on with in- 
expressible sorrow. That which she had feared 
had come about. Prosperity abandoned Mr. 
Murphy ; the business of his house went down ;. 
his respectable customers all left him, and in no 
long time he was turned out of his hotel. But 
this event only served to hasten his steps into 
deeper excesses. He opened a saloon and board- 
ing house on a limited scale and continued to 
drink. One day, after he had gone into this 
place, an intoxicated man had some difficulty 
with the barkeeper and was thrown out. The 
angered and drunken man started to go up stairs. 
Mr. Murphy, who had been attracted by the noise, 
stood at the head of the steps. A few hot words 
passed between the two men and they grapx^led. 
In the struggle which ensued they rolled together 
to the landing below. The man's neck was 
broken. In a few minutes he w^as dead. Mr. 

Murphy was arrested, but subsequently he was 
13 



%^ THE TEMPERANCE REVIVAL 

acquitted of blame. But it was a misfortune to 
the Murpliys. The event not only caused them 
natural sorrow and regret, but it plunged them 
into deeper difficulties. In course of time even 
the saloon and boarding house had to be given 
up. Murphy was now nearly at tlie bottom of 
the gulf. The anguish of his poor, patient, suf- 
fering wife during these dark times, can better 
be imagined than described. 

According to Mr. Murphy's own statement he 
found himself on the " night of September 25th, 
1889, without a dollar or a friend in the world,'' 
save only his wife and children who still clung 
to him even in his degradation. He was an out- 
cast indeed. Even the drunkards with whom he 
had spent all his money, cast him off, and his 
own countrymen contemned him. There was not 
in all Portland a single man who had a word to 
say in extenuation of the conduct of Francis 
Murphy. He was now in the drunkard's last 
stages of degradation. It was concluded on all 
hands that he was a public nuisance, and there- 
fore liable to arrest and incarceration in jail. 
One day about this time, Sheriff Perry and an 
Irishman who was a wholesale liquor dealer, 
came to his house and invited him to take a walk 
with them. After they had gone some distance 
the sheriff turned to him and remarked, ''I have 
been requested to arrest you." Mr. Mur23hy in- 
quired by whom. The sheriff then produced a 
writ containing the names of four persons, one 



- CONDUCTED BY FKANCIS MUKPHY. 399 

of whom was a whisky seller from whom Mr. 
Murphy could expect no sympathy. 

In this city of Portland lived an Irishman 
named Patrick McClidgy, who had been an old 
and dear friend of Francis Murphy. To him 
were Mr. Murphy's thoughts now directed. '' Will 
you let me go and see my friend Patrick Mc- 
Clidgy ? " he asked the sheriff. *' Yes, we will 
go with you to Patrick McClidgy," and they 
walked on. Murphy was not successful in en- 
listing the sympathy of the man with whom he 
would have been willing to trust his life — the 
man he loved better than all other men. Patrick 
McClidgy waved him away and said to the sher- 
iff, " The best thing you can do with him is to 
lock him up." Mur]3hy's heart sank within him. 
He was a confiding man and had trusted in this 
man's friendship, and now in his extremity he 
had said to the officer, " Take him away." It al- 
most broke his heart ; for low as he had descend- 
ed, he had not lost all sensibility. 

And the sheriff took him to the jail and locked 
him in a cell, away from his destitute family, 
and away from the destroying demon who 
had pursued him to poverty and was hunt- 
ing him to a drunkard's grave. It was God's 
purpose in His dealings with Francis Murphy 
that he should not go thence until he had passed 
through the bitterness and struggle of a new 
birth — " Passed from death unto life." 

How he was found by Captain Cyrus Sturdi- 



400 THE TEMPEEAI^CE EEYIVAL 

vant ; liow tliat Christian pliilantliropist took him 
by the hand and bade him hope ; how he suffer- 
ed in the throes of a mortal agony, wrestling 
with the spirit; how he rested at last in peace 
through trust in the Redeemer, we have already 
related. Such in brief is an account of the most 
important incidents in the life of Francis Murphy, 
the former drunkard, the subsequent successful 
temperance advocate. 

Mr. Murphy in due time found the work God 
had for him to do, and with a singleness of pur- 
pose and a consecration to the work truly re- 
markable, he went forth on his mission, and God 
has blessed his efforts above that bestowed upon 
the labors of all others. Hundreds of thousands 
in this country have enrolled themselves as ad- 
vocates of the cause of total abstinence. 

Mr. Murphy early saw the necessity for organ- 
ization as an essential requisite for the per- 
manency of the work accomplished. The Re- 
form Club of Portland, the first body organ- 
ized by him, adopted the machinery of society 
government. The Murphy leagues all over the 
country organized on the following principles, 
which constitute their distinctive character : 

1st. We, the members of this League, desirous 
of forming an association to enable us more 
effectually to protect ourselves and others from 
the evils of intemperance, do hereby form our- 
selves into an association to be known as the 
*'P Temperance League." 

2nd. The pledgee shall be as follows : "I 



CONDUCTED BY FKANCIS MUEPHY; 401 

solemnly promise, God helping me, to abstain 
from xlie use of intoxicating liquors as a bever- 
age and to use my influence to induce others so 
to do." 

3rd. All persons, male or female, capable of 
understanding the pledge, shall be eligible to 
membership in this League. 

4th. The officers shall consist of a President, 
six Yice Presidents, Secretary, Assistant Secre- 
tary, Treasurer, and Chaplain. 

5th. The funds necessary to defray the actual 
expenses of the League shall be collected by the 
Financial Committee, and by the Chairman of 
the Committee paid to the Treasurer, who shall 
pay thein out on the order of the League when 
signed by the President and Secretary. 

6th. Members violating the pledge, or proving 
guilty of conduct unbecoming a lady or gentle- 
man, shall be suspended, fined, repremanded or 
expelled, as a majority of the League may de- 
termine. 

7th. Any person may withdraw from the 
League by giving notice in writing to the Presi- 
dent (such notice to be read publicly at the next 
meeting of the League) in the following form : 

To the President of F Te'mperance Lea- 
gue : 

I hereby give notice that I shall in 30 days 
from this date withdraw from the League. 

N N . 

If, after the expiration of the 30 dnys, the 
person still desires to witndraw, and no charges 
have been preferred against him or her, t1ien 
such person may withdraw by signing and sub- 
mitting to the League the following ; 

To P Temperance Leagve : 

Convinced after mature reflection that it is to 



402 THE TEMPERANCE EEYIYAL 

the best interest of myself tliat I should sever 
my connection with the Temperance League, I 
herehv withdraw from the same. 

N N . 

8th. Persons charged with violations of the 
pledge may be tried by a committee of five (to 
be appointed by the President), or in open League, 
as the person so charged may elect. In case of 
trial by a committee, the decision shall be re- 
ported to the League, and shall be final unless 
appealed from. Any person feeling aggrieved 
at the verdict of a committee may appeal in writ- 
ing, to the Leagae. Any person violating the 
pledge may in oj)en session of "the League ac- 
knowledge such violation, either orally or in writ- 
ing; whereupon the Presidenjt shall, after allow- 
ing reasonable time for explaPiation and debate, 

put the question : ^^ Shall he reinstated f^ 

And the decision then and there made shall be 
final. Expelled members may be readmitted by 
a majority vote of those present at any League 
meeting. 

9th. The term of all ofiicers of the League 
shall be three months, but any ofiicer may be re- 
elected if the League so desire. 

In the absence of the President, the Yice Presi- 
dents shall preside in the order in which their 
names appear on the Secretary's list of ofiicers. 

It shall be the duty of the President to preside 
at all meetings and conduct the business in the 
manner prescribed by the order of business and 
rules of order. The Secretary and Assistant Sec- 
retary shall keep a true record of the proceed- 
ings of each meeting, and make report to the 
League every three months of the total number 
of members, number received during the quarter, 
number expelled, number withdrawn, and such 



COT^DTJCTED BY FEATsTCIS MUEPHT. 403 

other matters as may be desirable for tlie infor- 
mation of the League. The Treasurer shall re- 
ceive all monies from the Financial Committee 
and pay out the same on tiie order of the League. 
Tile Chaplain shall open each meeting of tlie 
League with appropriate religious exercises. A 
vacancy in any of tiie offices may be filled by 
election at any meedog of the League. 

10th. If any member shall have good reason to 
believe that a member has violated tlie pledge, 
snch member shall immediately inform the Vigi- 
lance Committee, or some member thereof ; vs^here- 
Tipon suchCommittee shall immediately proceed to 
make a preliminary examination into such charge, 
and if the Committee find reasonable grounds 
to believe such charges true, then the Com- 
mittee shall, at the next meeting of the League, 
make a formal charge against such person, giv- 
ing name and particulars, and the case shall then 
be proceeded with as elsewhere directed. In no 
case shall any member of the Yigilance Commit- 
tee make known the name of a person giving in- 
formation of violations of the pledge. 

11th. If any member be convicted of any crime 
or be guilty of any immoral, nngentlemanly or 
nnladylike practice, such person may be ex- 
pelled by a majority vote at any meeting of the 
League; but no such person shall be expelled 
without first beins: given an opportunity to know 
the charges and make a defence; provided tjiat 
the person charged be accessible to the service 
of such notice. 

12th. In case of 'the death of a brother or sis- 
ter, it shall be the duty of every member of the 
League to attend and assist at the funeral, un- 
less there be good cause to prevent such attend- 
ance. 



404 THE TEMPERANCE REVIVAL 

IStli. All charges against members must be 
made by the Vigilance Committee, and no charge 
sliall be preferred until preliminary examination 
has been made by that committee. 

14tli. The Secretary shall keep a book to be 
called the "Roll of Honor," and another to be 
called the "Roll of the Fallen." The roll of honor 
shall be a full and complete list of all the mem- 
bers, and in case of the expulsion of a member, a 
black line shall be drawn across the name of 
such member on the Roll of Honor, and his or her 
name transferred to the Roll of the Fallen. 
Should such person be reinstated, the name on 
the Roll of the Fallen shall be obliterated and 
again inscribed on the Roll of Honor. 

The badge worn by members of the "Murphy 
League," which has come to be the name under 
which the Reform Clubs organized by Mr. Mur- 
phy and his followers are known, is a blue rib- 
bon woru on the lappel of the coat, or other con- 
spicuous position. This is regarded as the sym- 
bol of the steadfastness of purpose of the wearer, 
and an emblem of truth, and purity. It forms a 
distinguishing sign by which members of the 
League recognize each other and can there- 
fore at once respond in sympathy to their 
fellow worker in the cause. 

Going out from Portland, Mr. Murphy com- 
menced his labors as a temperance revivalist. 
Never before in this country or in any other 
part of the world, was witnessed such a tremend- 
ous uprising. At Freeport, Illinois ; at Pitts- 
burgh ; at Philadelphia ; at Marshall, Iowa, and 



CONDUCTED BY FRAKCIS MURPHY. 405 

in a hundred otlier places, the labors of Francis 
Murphy were blessed in the redemption of thous- 
ands of poor unfortunate drunkards. At Pitts- 
burgh, after one of the most exciting conflicts 
ever engaged in, the rolls were inspected and it 
was found that 42,000 had signed the pledge in 
the year 1875. And the work did not stop, as 
we shall have occasion to show as we proceed. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

WOITDEEFUL UPEISIIS-G IN BEHALF OF TOTAL AB- 
STINENCE. 

The Heform Club movement was the beginning 
of the most wonderful uprisings, and the most 
persistent attacks upon the drinking habits of 
the American people ever known. The Washing- 
tonian movement was comparatively spasmodic. 
Beginning at Baltimore, it spread with great 
rapidity over the country. But scarcely a year 
had passed before its force had been expended, 
and in the course of two years this ebullition of 
the elements on the temperance question was a 
thing of the past. The movement had altogether 
ceased ; things had resumed their normal condi- 
tion ; society was still cursed by the presence of 
drinking shops ; drunkards reeled to wretched 
homes in the way they had before, and women 
wept and prayed and suffered, as they had pre- 
vious to the days of the Washingtonians. 

But the cause of temperance reformation, which 

was formulated by Osgood and Murphy in the 

^constitutions of the Reform Clubs in 1871-2, was 

no ephemeral excitation of the public mind on 



' *OTAL ABSTINENCE. 407 

tlie subject of temperance. It was a compacted, 
organized effort to rend asunder the fetters which 
held many hundreds of thousands — nay, millions 
— of our countrymen in thraldom. Nor was the 
movement the offspring of a brilliant fancy or 
the result of a sudden inspiration, but it was the 
fitting culmination of 3^ears of toil and thought, 
an adaptation of means to ends ; a common sense 
way of making efforts to attain a practical result. 
Its methods were simple ; its principles correct; 
its truths self-evident ; and the enthusiasm awak- 
ened proved to be practically without limit. 

A poor nnfortunate drinking man at Gardiner, 
Maine, saw through the window the sad, care- 
worn face of his wife ; his heart was touched ; he 
resolved to drink no more ; kept his resolution ; 
and went about to persuade his drinking com- 
panions to do likewise. His efforts were crowned 
with success ; others seeing and hearing of these 
things took courage and forswore the use of in- 
toxicating liquors. What should they do after 
gaining their freedom ? Go to work, organize 
societies of men who could really and truly sym- 
pathize with each other and become missionaries 
in behalf of the cause through which their re- 
demption was effected. The suggestion was nat- 
ural, and it was acted upon. 

Another man, who had sacrificed business, 
honor, fortune and the hap^nness of his family, 
finds himself at last in a gloomy cell in the com- 
mon jail of Portland, Maine. He is found there 



408 WOl^'BERFITL UPRISING IlSf BEHALE* 

"by a Christian pliilantliropist ; the gospel is 
preached to him ; he hears it gladly ; accepts its 
saving truths, and goes forth from thence to tell 
what great things the Lord has done for him, and 
to proclaim to listening thousands the story of 
his fall and subsequent redemption through faith. 
He called uipon men everj^ where to dash away 
the inebriating cup, and stand upright in the 
eyes of men and before high Heaven for the dear 
Redeemer's sake. And men heard, were aston- 
ished, and believed, and went out resolved to 
stagger no more. And they banded together 
like brothers. 

Another still, there was, in the city of Bangor, 
Maine, who had wasted precious years in the 
stupor created by alcohol ; who had destroyed 
his professional reputation ; ruined his character 
and trembled on the verge of madness. But the 
Lord had work for him to do, and while a band 
of faithful women, congregated in a church, pray- 
ed the good Father of Mercies to visit the poor 
drunkards and save them from their demon con- 
trolled appetites, he was visited in his office by 
the Holy Spirit, and went out to tell the world 
how he was lost and found. And the story was 
believed, and others were saved and went forth 
to proclaim the glad tidings to those who were 
still wandering in the wilderness of sin, which is 
the pleasure ground of the adversary of souls, 
and thousands believed and were rescued from 
the power of that evil one. 



OF TOTAL ABSTIWEI^CE. 409 

How strange that these three men, the first a 
a pauper drunkard, the second a sot committed 
to prison as a nuisance, the third the slave of a 
degrading appetite which had forced him very 
near to the door of a madhouse, should be chosen 
as God's instruments in revolutionizing society. 
And yet it is all in consonance with God's method 
in dealing with man. When the God-man was 
on earth and had occasion for human agencies in 
establishing His truth in the world, He did not 
go to the Sanhedrim and select the most learned 
doctors of the law, who were the moralizers and 
philosophers of the Jewish race ; He did not 
seek among the philosophers of the Grecian 
Academia for advocates of the doctrines He came 
to establish ; but He called to Himself a band of 
illiterate fishermen, publicans and tribute gath- 
erers — men from the ranks of the most despised 
classes, and He made them the repositories and 
teachers of the most sublime doctrines ever pro- 
claimed among men. And these humble instru- 
mentalities went abroad through the world, 
everywhere teaching the glorious moral truths of 
the gospel, and philosophers and sages in all 
lands heard, were confounded, believed, and in 
turn took up the story of the cross, and buckled 
on the armor and went forth to sufi<er, even unto 
death, in defense of the truth as it is in Jesus. 

When Israel desired a king to rule over them, 

Jehovah did not send his servant Samuel to 
anoint one of the princes of the tribes of the 



410 WONDERFUL UPEISlNG IN BEHALP 

people He had Ibrouglit out of Eo-ypt witli a 
miglity and an outstretched arm, but to Saul, who 
belonged to one of the least — that is the most 
uninfluential — of the families of the tribe of 
Benjamin. '* The wisdom of man is foolishness 
with God." There were many learned and elo- 
quent ministers, but God did not select them as 
His instruments in advancing the cause of gospel 
temperance. Strange that twelve illiterate Gali- 
leans should have been endowed with power and 
wisdom to establish doctrines and governments, 
more durable and exercising a wider and more 
potent influence on the destinies of the race than 
the combined empires and kingdoms of the world. 

And Osgood and Murphy and Reynolds, un- 
promising of mighty achievements as they may 
have appeared to the worldly wise, have touched 
a deeper chord, kindled a greater enthusiasm, 
awakened a deeper interest among the masses of 
the people, and have attracted more attention 
from a greater number of persons on account of 
their efforts than any three statesmen, ora- 
tors, poets, ministers, lawyers, physicians, or 
editors, in America. And this interest has been 
longer sustained than any movement among the 
great and wise men of our age and times, during 
the past quarter of a century. In spite of the 
slight misunderstandings, the little bickerings, 
inseparable from all merely human concerns, the 
work went on for years with an irresistible force. 

Kot only were the lecturers and speakers of 




HON. WILLIAM E. DODGE, 
President National Temperance Society. 



OF TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 413 

the clubs at work, but every temperance order, 
league and union in the land was quickened and 
at once entered upon a new and vigorous life. 
Aggression was the order of the day. The Sons 
of Temperance, the Independent Order of Good 
Templars, the E-echabites, the Friends of Tem- 
perance, the Templars of Honor and Temper- 
ance, and the Cadets of Temperance, all the 
secret orders, were strengthened, inspired with 
enthusiasm, and became aggressive in policy. 
The reform movement has proved of great ser- 
vice to all the temperance orders. Innumerable 
Good Templar Lodges, Divisions of the Sons of 
Temperance, Tents of Rechabites, and Temples 
of Honor and Temperance have been established 
in all parts of the country. 

Wor were these incidents the measure of the 
work accomplished by the reformers. The Wo- 
men's Christian Temperance Union and the Na- 
tional Temperance Society both were aroused to 
aggressive action. Everywhere the cause made 
progress. The National Medical Association of 
the United States met at Detroit in 1874, after the 
commencement of the reform club movement. 
This convention was composed of more than 400 
delegates, including some of the leading pro- 
fessors of the science of medicine in the United 
States. That association adopted the followino- 
resolutions : 

1. — That in view of the alarming prevalence 
and ill-effects of intemperance, with which none 



414 V^ONDEEEUL UPRISKs^G 1^ BEHALI' 

are so familiar as memlbers of the medical pro- 
fession, and wliicli have called forth from Eng- 
lish physicians the voice of warning to the peo- 
ple of Great Britain concerning the nse of alco- 
holic beverages, we, as members of the medi- 
cal profession of the United States, unite in the 
declaration that we believe that alcohol should 
be classed with other powerful drugs ; that when 
prescribed medicinally it should be done with 
conscientious caution and a sense of great re- 
sponsibility. 

2. — That we are of the opinion that the use of 
alcoholic liquors as a beverage is productive of a 
large amount of physical and mental disease ; 
that it entails diseased appetites and enfeebled 
constitutions upon offspring, and that it is the 
cause of a large per centage of the crime and 
pauperism in our large cities and the countr}^. 

3. — That we would welcome any change in 
public sentiment that would confine the use of 
intoxicating liquors to the uses of science, art 
and medicine. 

The National Temperance Society called a 
national convention to meet in Chicago, in June, 
1875. This assemblage was attended by a larger 
number of delegates than had ever before at- 
tended a National Temperance Convention. It 
was the eighth of the kind held in this country. 
For the first time, too^ in the history of the Na- 
tional organization, the discussions assumed a 
semi-political tone. The following was adopted 
as expressive of the sentiment of the convention ; 

JResolved, That we recommend all citizens to 
take the temperance issue, ''without conceal' 



OP TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 415 

ment without compromise," to the primary meet- 
ing, and to the polls to nominate and vote for 
such candidates only State and National, as will 
unqualifiedlj endorse and sustain the prohibi- 
tion of the liquor-traffic ; that in every state, 
county, town and congressional district in the 
United States prohibition leagues be organized ; 
also whenever suitable nominations are not 
otherwise made, that independent prohibition 
candidates be nominated for the suifrages of all 
temperance citizens: and that the Prohibitioh 
party should have the undivided support of all 
temperance voters in each State^ and Territory 
where, in their judgment, such political action is 
the best method of securing the enactment and 
enforcement of efficient prohibitory laws. 

The Hon. Wm. E. Dodge of New York, long 
known as a Christian philanthropist and earn- 
est temperance worker at all times, never lost an 
opportunity to exercise his abilities in the inter- 
est of the cause. As President of the National 
Temperance Society, he was especially servicea- 
ble, while in Congress; and again during the Cen- 
tennial Exposition he was active in securing the 
banishment of the liquor-traffic from the Exposi- 
tion grounds. 

In 1875, this opulent and benevolent man made 
a proposition to give $10,000 to the National 
Temperance and Publication Society, to enable 
the Society to liquidate indebtedness and be 
better prepared to meet the demand for temper- 
ance literature pouring in from every quarter. 
This proposition, which was conditioned upou 



416 WONDEEFUL UPRISING IN BEHALP 

the Society raising an equal amount, was event- 
ually fulfilled by Mr. Dodge, altliough the 
amount was not raised by the Society. 

The movement in favor of total abstinence 
was meanwhile gathering force, and rolling on 
like a tidal wave, from the Atlantic to tUe Pacific. 
In many of the states, political and legislative 
action was taken in the direction of governmental 
prohibition. In Ohio the Adair law was amend- 
ed and made more efficient. The Indiana Legis- 
lature passed the Baxter law; the law-makers of 
Illinois passed a law requiring bonds of saloon- 
keepers, and making them and the owners of 
the property in which they conducted their busi- 
ness jointly liable for all damages sustained by 
the families of persons to whom they sold 
liquors; and the legislature of Tennessee passed 
a stringent act regulating the sale of intoxicat- 
ing liquors. This, however. Governor John C. 
Brown vetoed. 

Meanwhile, Murphy, Osgood and Reynolds 
were abroad, conducting temperance meetings 
and exciting a profound interest throughout the 
country. Tens of thousands cigned the pledge, 
and were gathered into clubs and leagues, in 
nearly all the cities and towns of the east, as 
well as in the west. In Tennessee, Mississippi, 
Georgia and Virginia, under the auspices of the 
Good Templars, Friends of Temperance, United 
Friends of Temperance and other orders, the 
work prospered and the cause of temperance was 



bF TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 417 

greatly advanced. In Alabama, the Order of 
Good Templars especially made extraordinary 
progress, between 1873 and 1875. At the end of 
the last named year, there were at least 10,000 
members of the order in the state, 7,000 of whom 
had come in within two years. 

Among the people, from the pine-clad hills of 
Maine to the savannas of Texas, from the orange 
groves of Florida to the forest sheltered vallej^s 
of Oregon, a profound interest in the temperance 
cause was awakened. 

In many instances the awakening of whole 
communities during the years 1875-6 were pheno- 
menal. We will take an instance of a town in 
Western New York which had a hard name. It 
is said that more vile liquors per capita were 
drank in that place during a given length of time 
than in any other place on the continent. But 
in the autumn of 1875 a temperance revival broke 
out there, apparently without preconcert or 
leadership. The movement began in the follow- 
ing manner: a gentleman, one of the jolliest 
drinkers in the place, was passing along the 
street, when he was met by an acquaintance, who, 
after the customary salutations, remarked, "Why, 
Mr. B., you look so much better ! You have 
greatly improved since I last had an opportunity 
to see you ! What have you been doii\g' ? " The 
gentleman replied : " I feel better. The fact is 
I have not been drinking an3^tliing for the last 
few weeks, and I have about made up my mind 



418 WONDERFUL UPRISING IN BEItALF 

that I will not drink any more." "Precisely 
what I have been thinking," responded the other. 
Here were two men whose thonghts were running 
in the same channel. Reason had led them to 
the same conclusion. After some further conver- 
sation in which views were exchanged, it was 
agreed "between them that they would inaugurate 
a temperance reform movement. They sent to 
Elmira and invited some speakers, advertised a 
public meeting, and waited the arrival of the 
evening that had been designated for the com- 
mencement of their effort. The speakers came; 
the town hall was crowded; the two friends signed 
the pledge and were followed by more than a 
hundred others. The work went on. The drinj?:- 
ing population were all at last gathered into a 

total abstinence club. In three weeks every 
saloon in the place was closed, and not a drop 

of whisky or other intoxicating liquors could be 
had in that town, without aph^^sician's prescrip- 
tion, more than two years afterward, at the close 
of the year 1877. 

This result was not brought about in that town 
by imported agencies. It was a spontaneous 
movement, originating among the drinking men 
of the place, and carried forward mainly by them 
to the consummation indicated. What is more 
singular, from a purely materialistic point of 
view, was the revival of religious interest among 
the people which accompanied the general revolt 
against the tyranny of the drinking customs of 



OF TOTAL ABSTlNENCje. 419 

the community. The churclies were greatly 
strengthened, and that town became a model of 
morality as well as sobriety, of Christian activity 
as well as intellectual progress. 

Mr. Murphy visited Chicago in 1874, and ac- 
complished a good work there. While at Chi- 
cago, he received a letter from Chancellor Woods, 
of Pittsburgh, inviting him to come over to that 
city. The result of the correspondence was an 
engagement with the Young Men's Temperance 
Association, through Chancellor Woods, to go to 
Pittsburgh and deliver eight lectures on temper- 
ance at $25 each. 

He proceeded to Pittsburgh and commenced 
his work. Bat lecturing in halls and churches, 
to people who were for the most part already 
temperate, was not according to his inclination, 
nor compatible with his genius as a temperance 
lecturer. He wanted to meet with " the boys. " 
He was discouraged at first. He thought that if 
he could but get a hall, a room of any kind 
where he could be free to invite "the boys from 
off the street" to come in, he would be able to 
start the ball in motion. Some friends procured 
for him the use of the basement of one of the 
Methodist churches. The proper announcements 
of the meeting were made. The first night was 
a success. A large number came forward and 
signed the pledge. From that time onward the 
work proceeded in Pittsburgh with unprecedented 
enthusiasm. Before the week was out, 5,000 per- 



420 "WONDEErtiL upRismG m behal:^ 

sons had signed the pledge. In ten weeks, 40,000 
names had been attached to the total abstinence 
pledge. 'Not was the work in Pittsburgh the 
only resuU of the efforts of Mr. Murphy. Alle- 
ghany City, and all the neighboring villages Avere 
infected b}^ the spirit of the revival, and thous- 
ands were rescued from the slavery of intemper- 
ance. In Pittsburgh and Alleghany City the 
churche's were all thrown open to the workers in 
the cause, and were crowded night after night 
by thousands — hundreds of whom had not 
crossed the threshold of a house of Avorship 
for years. Many affecting incidents of the meet- 
ings at Pittsburgh were recorded by the press of 
the city at the time. One evening, as a gentle- 
man pressed through the throng to the table to 
sign the pledge, a little curly-haired child of ^ve 
or six years of asje, who was intently watching 
the throngs of people going up to sign the 
pledge, recognized his father, and standing on 
the seat of the pew he cried out at the top of his 
voice, "Oh, Auntie ! Auntie ! There goes papa to 
sign the pledge ! ]^ow, let's go and tell mam- 
ma." 

A young man went up one evening and signed 
the pledge. As he was turning away, a 3^oung 
woman, w^ith a child in her arms, made her way 
through the crowed; holding the little one with 
one hand, she threw her arm about the neck of 
the young man, and kissed him with rapture, 
while her eyes filled with tears of joy. It was 



OF TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 421 

her husband. The young couple had "been separ- 
ated on account of his intemperate habits. As 
he walked down the aisle with the little one in 
his arms and his now reconciled wife with her 
arm locked in his, he received many congratula- 
tions from the people on the resolution which he 
had taken. 

On another occasion a man of middle age, who 
had been urged to sign the pledge, had declined 
to do so because he had no confidence in his 
ability to resist temptation. He was a lawyer 
whose intellect and connections had given prom- 
ise of a brilliant career when he first commenced 
to practice. But intemperance had ruined all 
his worldly prospects. Time and again he had 
tried to reform ; t)at he fell before every tempta- 
tion. He was now a complete wreck of a man, with 
his fortune all gone, and the prospect of a drunk- 
ard's grave before him. When appeals were made 
to him to take the pledge, he said, ^' What is 
the use? I can't keep it. I wish to God I could." 
"Then with the help of God you can," was the 
reply. Bathe did not sign that evening. The next 
night he came again, and when an opportunity 
was oftered he went forward and signed the 
pledge, and turned around to address the people. 
He said, " I believe it is the will of God that I 
shall be saved. I feel strong to-night, but not in 
my own strength. I have prayed to-day to the 
source of strength — the Mighty One — and I feel 
that He has heard my prayer. God alone can 



422 WOKDEEFUL UPRISING IN BEHALF 

save the drunkard. I believe He will save me 
from my awful propensity to get drunk. With. 
God's help I mean to keep the pledge I have 
taken to-night." Three years afterward, when 
the old year had given place to the bright new 
year of 1878, that man gave an entertainment to 
a large circle of friends to celebrate the good 
fortune the years had brought him, and there was 
no wine on that man's table. He had kept the 
pledge, and prosperity had come to him. 

The great temperance revolution which swept 
the liquor traffic out of the town of Somerset, 
Ohio, had a most singular origin. There were 
two carpenters, named Taylor and Eagle, who 
had completed a contract, and then gone on a 
spree to spend their earnings. They went into a 
saloon kept by a man named Stein, to finish up. 
Taylor had a blank " Murphy pledge," which a 
brother, a reformed drunkard of Lancaster, Ohio, 
had sent to him. Stein, in a jesting manner, 
said he would give him a dime to sign. Taylor 
did sign it, and so did Eagle. And then they 
went out and concluded they would keep their 
obligation. A few days afterward, Dr. Rickey, 
of Lancaster, an earnest temperance worker, 
came to Somerset. Taylor went to him and got 
eleven copies of the pledge — all he had — and 
soon afterward came back for more. A quantity 
was then printed, and as the time seemed pro- 
pitious, the work was prosecuted by Taylor and 
his reformed friends with such success that in a 



QF TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 423 

short time every liquor-seller in Somerset was 
compelled to close up. Stein himself signed the 
pledge before it was over, and Somerset was thus 
freed from drunkenness. 

It would require the space of a large volume 
to recount in detail the progress of the temper- 
ance work during the years from 1871 to, and in- 
cluding 1877. Nor can even a general view he 
given, since that would necessarily exclude par- 
ticular phenomenal results. 

It is a remarkable fact, that many old topers 
who were supposed to be too weak to be reform- 
ed, and too much diseased by long years of in- 
dulgence in alcoholic stimulants to resist the 
desire for liquor, were brought into the reform 
clubs and became sober men and exemplary 
church members. In six years many such were 
converted both to temperance and to the blessed 
religion of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. And 
another remarkable thing in connection with this 
great reform movement is that in no instance 
has any one, so far as we can ascertain, who pro- 
fessed faith in Christ and relied upon Him for 
strength to overcome the power of the drink 
demon, fallen away from his obligations and 
•pledges. Why is this ? Why is a man, who pro- 
fesses faith in God, more likely to exercise 
strength of will than others ? Two topers signed 
the pledge in a certain Illinois town the same 
evening in the year 1875. They were born in the 
same month of the same year, they were both 



424 WOKDEEFtJL tJPEISI^^G IN BEHALI* 

men of good physique, and tliere were iDut four 
pounds difference in their weight. In tempera- 
ment there was some difference. One was re- 
garded as strong willed and persevering in pur- 
pose; the other as tractable and complaisant, 
and inclined to be vacillating and easily dis- 
couraged. The self-willed man was inclined to 
be skeptical concerning religion ; the other had 
not considered the subject very much, and did 
not have very firm convictions one way or the 
other when the pledge was signed. 

Now, these two men were both rsgarded as 
having a nice sense of honor when not under 
the influence of liquor. "When they signed the 
pledge, many said the complaisant man would 
break it, but all believed the other would keep it. 
They had been drinking about the same number 
of years, and much of the time their sprees were 
taken in the company of each other. So there 
was no great difference between them in that 
respect. The genial natured man and the 
austere man, thus had travelled parallel roads 
through life. One became a. convert to Christi- 
anity, made a profession of faith, was baptized 
and received into the communion of a Christian 
church. Two years afterward the following re- 
port was made of the status of the two men. 

"Mr. B has fallen into evil wa} s. He broke 

his pledge in less than three months, and at once 
plunged into greater excesses than before. He 
became a complete wreck. Mr. S soon after 



OF TOTAL ABSTINEiS^GE. 425 

joined the church, proved to be a consistent 
member, and in a j^ear after he took the pledge 
became Worthy Chief of a Good Templar's 
lodge, and was afterward appointed a deacon in 
his church. He became a most worthy, prosper- 
ous and well respected citizen." And this man, 
it was thought, would break his pledge ! 

The incident given above, is one out of more 
than a hundred similar ones which have come to 
us well authenticated. Why should one man of 
recognized force of character, possessed of strong 
will-power and great tenacit}?- of purpose, whose 
reason was thoroughly convinced that the con- 
tinual indulgence in alcoholic stimulation could 
lead only to degradation, to the loss of fortune, 
friends and the regards of his own family — wh}* 
should such a man return to his cups and delib- 
erately choose the way to destruction, while 
another, possessing none of these high natural 
gifts of mind, turn about and be saved ? There 
can be but one explanation. The one has re- 
ceived that grace, faith in Christ, which is "the 
power of God unto salvation to every one that 

believeth." The salvation of Mr. S from the 

drinking habit, and the return of Mr. B to 

his customary debaucheries, is a psychological 
phenomenon which, it is our belief, cannot be 
explained upon the ordinary physiological 
grounds. It is an evidence of the power of the 
grace of God in the human soul to overcome the 
wiles of the Wicked One, 



426 WOITBEEFUL UPEISIT^G IIS^ BEHALF 

The history of the temperance revival v^hich 
commenced in 1871, is full of instances of old 
topers who had been for years the absolute 
slaves of the debasing appetite for strong drink, 
suddenly breaking away and becoming sober 
men and active Christian workers. And alas! 
that it shouldbe so ; there are other instances in 
which strong-willed men tried, without an ap- 
peal to the Omnipotent Helper, and failed. 
Murphy and Reynolds, and hundreds of others of 
the most active of the temperance leaders of the 
movement, acknowledge that it was through the 
grace of God that they were enabled to conquer 
their evil propensity. 

It is here that the Reform movement was so 
strong from the beginning. It was based on re- 
ligious faith ; it was prosecuted with the end in 
view of rescuing men from temporal degradation 
• and eternal damnation ; and the appeal to the 
higher elements in human nature, with the 
assertion of God's prerogatives over his creatures, 
were productive of results which astonished the 
leaders themselves and confounded the world. 

The movement from' its inception was essen- 
tially a gospel temperance movement. The Lord 
of Heaven was appealed to, as the source from 
whence cometh help; a mighty cry ascended to 
the throne; Omnipotence sent forth His influence, 
and man was conquered. 

The Christmas season of 1877 dawned happily 
for the people of a town in Illinois. The great 



OP TOT7VL ABSTINENCE. 427 

temperance wave which had rolled irresistihly 
over the Middle and Western States, had "struck" 
the place sometime .before. The citizens, who 
had caused so much disquiet and anxiety in other 
days, by their indulgence in reason destroying 
liquors, had been forced to see the error of their 
ways, and those who had been like the poor de- 
mented man who lived among the tombs, tearing 
his garments and wounding himself, were now 
" clothed and in their right mind. " One of the 
number had for years and years stood behind a 
counter and dealt out death-dealing potions to all 
who demanded them. Now this man had closed 
the place where he had so long carried on the 
iniquitous traffic, had assumed the badge of tem- 
perance, and was battling earnestly and zealously 
in the cause. And there was another citizen, who 
had been a man of promise and prominence. He 
had stood among the law givers of the state, he 
had occupied a seat in the council-hall of the wise; 
but he had fallen. A wife who was true and de- 
voted had been driven to distraction by his neg- 
lect and drunken abuse. His means had been 
squandered ; his character had been blighted and 
he had gone through the gradations of a moder- 
ate drinker and an occasional drunkard on to the 
condition of an habitual sot. Friends he had once 
possessed, but they had deserted him ; he had 
sunk low in the scale of degradation, and, for a 
long time, had been a friendless wretch, haunting 
the very dens in which his ruin had been effected ; 



428 WO:s^DERFUL UPRISING IX BEHALF 

despised "by the very men who had taken his 
money and Masted the happiness of his family. 

But the Christmas of 1877 found this man 
erect — found him asserting his manhood. He 
had eu countered the temperance wave, and had 
"been borne to tlie shores of deliverance. The 
talents with which God had blessed him, for 
months had been employed in warning others 
of the existence of the deep, bitter pools into 
which he had fallen. The powerful appeals 
which he made, based upon his own sad expe- 
rience, Avere effectual in recalling others who 
were travelling down the road to perdition, and 
he won many to the cause of honor and morality. 
And there were dozens of others who had not 
played so important a role in the drama of life, 
but who, nevertheless, had suffered just asdeeijly 
from the cruel mockeries of the drink demon, 
who were reclaimed and now stood forth in the 
forefront of the battle against the accursed ene- 
my. These were all in their right mind now. 
The drinkers having become grave and sober 
men, the occupation of the whisky venders was 
gone, and the last saloon in the place had been 
closed several weeks before Christmas. So there 
were no drinking bouts and no drunkards on the 
streets of that once liquor-cursed town, on the 
anniversary of the birth of the world's Redeemer. 
It was a marvelous thing to see the old topers 
soberly plodding to their homes on Christmas 
eve, loaded with well filled baskets of the good 



dp TOTAL ABSTINENCE. 42^ 

tilings of life for tlieir families. And an old 
temperance advocate, who had passed the allotted 
three score and ten years, beholding these things 
in a place once noted for the scenes of drunken 
revelry always certain to be indulged in at 
Christmas-tide, in the fullness of his heart ex- 
claimed — " JSTow I am ready to die ! That for 
which I have labored and prayed has come about. 
And now that I have beheld this marvelous event, 
Lord, let thy servant depart in peace." 

During the entire holiday season there was 
not a single drunken man seen on the streets. 

And every one was happy. Presents were sent 
and visits were made, and the smiles of wives 
and sisters and mothers were more frequent and 
more joyous than ever noticed before, for that 
town had been a stronghold of the demon in the 
years gone by. Alcohol had been banished, 
only a few short weeks before, it is true, and 
behold the dawn of a golden morn of peace and 
joy. Does temperance do any harm ? Is unhap- 
piness the outgrowth of sobriety? The people of 
that place think not. 

One of the most potent arguments in favor of 
total abstinence is found in the comparison in- 
stituted between cities and towns where liquors 
are sold and where they are not. The facts are 
so plain, and so easy to be verified, that advo- 
cates of dram-selling, when pressed to the wall 
by such irrefragible evidence of the superior 
character of the people in temperance towns, are 



430 WOITDEEFUL UPRISING IN BEHALi' 

accustomed to answer sometMng after this style: 
"Yes, but such towns can't grow. You see the 
people are so full of fanaticism and higotry, so 
narrow-minded and exclusive, that men of spirit 
will not go near them. They are a community 
by themselves, and there is neither generosity, 
sympathy nor charity among them. They are 
like the Pharisees of old so roundly denounced 
by Jesus Christ ; they are whited sepulchers." 
Now, it is easy to denounce, but difficult to 
reason against facts. It is not excessively diffi- 
cult for one man to say of another, he does not 
believe what he teaches — in other words, he is a 
hypocrite. But there is an infallible rule by 
which all human actions may be tested. "By 
their deeds you shall know them." In some 
counties in Maine and Vermont, where the sale 
of intoxicating liquors is rigidly prohibited by 
law and the laws vigorously enforced, jails have 
been left without an occupant for years at a 
time ; the costs for criminal prosecutions have 
been nothing, and the taxes have been reduced, 
while the wealth of the people has been steadily 
increasing. 

A local newspaper in the first month of the 
year 1878, thus characterizes the situation of 
aifairs in one little city : " The Mayor and Mar- 
shal have ample time to attend to their private 
affairs now. Last week there was not a drunk ; 
not a knock down ; not a nuisance ; not a case of 
petit larceny nor misdemeanor of any kind. This 



OF TOTAL ABSTINElSrCE. 431 

state of affairs is an anomaly in the history of 
our city. It is all chargeable to the closing of the 
dramshops through the success of the Kibbon 
Movement. " 

And is this achievement nothing ? Is it a small 
thing, if society is so regulated that there is no 
occasion for a resort to the criminal law ? Then 
the temperance movement accomplished much 
good. The great uprising in favor of total absti- 
nence resulted in many hundred thousand signing 
the pledge. Of these, thousands upon thousands 
were permanently rescued from the degradation 
of drunkards. Is that a small matter ? Who is 
so bold as to declare that a low, reeking, sottish 
drunkard is just as useful a member of society 
as a sober man ? It is absurd. A man spends 
hundreds of dollars with a saloon keeper, and 
when his money is gone he is kicked out. 

14 



\ 



CHAPTEH XXyi. 

MONSTEIi MEETINGS lE^ MAl^Y PLACES. 

One of the most striking features of the great 
uprising against intemperance which commenced 
in 1872, was the immense number of people who 
.q-athered at the meetings. As we have had oc- 
casion to remark before, the people in Salem, 
Waltham, Gloucester, Haverhill, Marblehead and 
other places in Massachusetts, at the very begin- 
ning of the movement turned out en masse and 
were gathered into the folds of the temperance 
clubs and leagues. It was marvelous in the 
sight of all the people. And the movement trav- 
elled west and the same phenomena appeared. 
In every town vast crowds came from the sur- 
rounding country. Many went from mere curios- 
ity, some from a sincere desire to be benefited, 
but not a few went into the meetings to deride 
the efforts of the temperance workers. Some be- 
lieved that the work would end in an infringe- 
ment on their personal liberty, and were con- 
scientiously opposing the onward sweep of the 
temperance wave. So, Paul, ^'in all good con- 
science," opposed the doctrines of Christ. These 



MOIS^STER MEETINGS IK MANY PLACES. 433 

people wlio went to deride and discourage were 
not unfrequently struck with conviction them- 
selves and became the foremost leaders in the 
movement. God's ways are not man's ways; the 
counsels of the wicked were brought to naught, 
and the temperance tide rolled on, gathering 
force and irresistible power as it swept from the 
east to the west. 

Back of the appearance of things, there was a 
reason for this wonderful movement. What was 
that reason? A settled conviction in the minds 
of men, that the use of intoxicating liquors was 
an unmitigated evil; that the traffic in it was the 
curse of the country and the crime of the age. 
The ensnared drunkards, whose will power can 
no longer save them, are not all enemies of the 
principles of temperance. Dr. Henry A. Rey- 
nolds, while a sottish drunkard, invariably voted 
for prohibition. Drunk or sober, he always went 
to the polling place and cast a vote in favor of 
prohibiting the liquor traffic. Those who drink 
know, better than any other people, the fearful 
evil wrought by intoxicating drinks. Intemper- 
ance is perhaps more disastrous than drunken- 
ness. They are two very different things. Card- 
inal Manning, who is one of the Yice Presidents 
of the United Kingdom Alliance — the temperance 
political party of Great Britain, of which Sir 
Wilfrid Lawson, Sir W. C. Trevelj^an and Hon. 
John Crossley may be regarded as leaders — in a 
letter to a gentleman of Dublin draws such a 



434 MONSTEE MEETINGS 

distinction between intemperance and drunken- 
ness that we cannot forbear to make a quotation 
from it liere. He says : 

I do not tliink it enough, to try to check 
drunkenness, unless we try to check intemper- 
ance. These two things are distinct, and need 
distinct treatment. There is a great deal of in- 
temperance which never betrays itself in drunk- 
enness. To the upper classes, worldly respect, 
fear of shame and other motives keep men and 
women within the line beyond which they would 
be detected; but they wreck themselves by the 
use of wine and other stimulants. Half the mis- 
ery of homes arising from bad temper, sloth, 
squandering, selfishness, debt, and neglect of 
duty, is caused by indulgence in wine and the 
like. The sure and best cure is to bring up chil- 
dren in simple habits, and to guard them against 
acquiring the liking of intoxicating drinks. 
"When the liking for the taste is acquired, the 
temptation is at once in existence. Common 
sense, as well as faith, says : Train up children 
not to know the taste and they will not be tempt- 
ed. I urge this on parents wherever I can, and I 
have before me many happy homes, in which 
children have grown up without so much a^ hav- 
ing tasted anything but water. The}'- will be the 
sober fathers and mothers of the next generation. 
If the fathers and mothers of to-day had been so 
trained, we should not now have before us so 
many unhappy homes and outcast children. 
There is no need of adding that self-indulgence 
in drink clouds the conscience and all the powers 
of spiritual life. 

Here we have the testimony of one of the most 
eminent prelates in the Church of Bome, taking 



IN MANY PLACES. 435 

an active interest in tlie temperance work ; and, 
what is more, he believes in political — that is 
legislative — action to suppress the traffic. This 
is certainly an advanced position for a Prince of 
the Roman Catholic Church to assume. 

But the conviction which he expresses had 
been reached by thousands, nay hundreds of 
thousands of people in America. Drunkenness 
was common, and intemperance, as characterized 
by Cardinal Manning, was still more prevalent. 
And the smothered consciences of thousands of 
moderate drinkers were ready to prompt to ac- 
tion against the great wrong at the very first op- 
portunity. 

So when the reform movement came, the men 
who were intemperate and the men who were 
drunkards, with a full sense of the dreadful 
character of the curse of intemperance and the 
crime of drunkenness, were ready to place them- 
selves in a position where they would have 
moral support given them in social organiza- 
tions where each could sympathize with the 
other. This is why the reform movement has 
called together such vast numbers on every 
occasion of a temperance meeting, whether in 
Maine or Massachusetts, Illinois or Montana. 
Temperance lecturers did not want for an audi- 
ence at any time. The people came together ; 
what was in the mind of one intemperate or 
drinking man was in the mind of all — namely: 
that it was better to stop, "to put on the brakes;" 



436 MOXSTER MEETLN-GS 

thus psychological relations and sympathies 
were established, and hence the result. 

It will be necessary to give some striking ex- 
amples of the popular uprising in some of the 
centers of population in order to give our read- 
ers an idea of the character of the work accom- 
plished. TThole cities and towns were converted 
to the temperance cause within a few days. The 
work once commenced in a place went steadily 
forward for years. In 1875 Francis Murphy 
commenced the work in Pittsburgh. In a brief 
time many thousands of names were signed to 
the pledge. Prophets of evil predicted that it 
^'wouldn't last long;" that all interest would 
"soon die out," and the Pittsburghers return to 
their old ways. But did the movement cease 
with the departure of Mr. Murphy ? Xot at all. 
In 1876 it was active ; in 1877 the temperance 
work was prosecuted with unabated vigor; and 
after the middle of January, 1878, the daily 
papers thus report the progress of the work 
there : 

"The all-day meeting of the Old-Home Chris- 
tian Temperance Union, held in the Central 
Presbyterian church on Smithfield street, was 
largely attended. The meeting commenced at ten 
o'clock in the morning, with Dr. James Orr in 
the chair. He was relieved at the end of an hour 
by Captain Shanafelt, who was followed by 
Messrs. Protzman, Dunn, Elliott, Jones and 
Gay, each in turn presiding until six o'clock. 



IK MAN-Y PLACES. 437 

Each leader introduced a list of speakers, who 
were well received, While the "boys" were 
running the meeting up stairs in the body of the 
church, the ladies of the old guard of the "old 
home" were busy preparing the edibles which 
had been contributed by a number of citizens. 
Dinner was announced at one o'clock, one hun- 
dred persons were admitted at a time, until over 
one thousand men, women and children were 
fed. During the meeting over two huudred sig- 
natures were obtained to the pledge. At six 
o^clock an intermission of one hour was taken. 
At seven o'clock the audience was again called 
to order by Dr. James Orr, and after the reading 
of a scripture lesson by Capt. Shanafelt and 
prayer by Mr. Smith of the Central church, 
Messrs. Elliott, McCann, Brown, Shanafelt, 
E-iley and Jones addressed the audience, which 
filled the church to overflowing. The two last 
meetings held by the Old-Home Union afford 
much encouragement, to the Murphyites to push 
forward the work in this city during 1878 with 
renewed vigor." 

The methods adopted in the West were simple 
and efficient. The history of the inception, cul- 
mination and triumph of the movement in one 
of the smaller cities or towns is the history of 
the movement in all similarly situated places. In 
the town of Mount Pleasant, Kansas, the whole 
male population, numbering some hundreds, sur- 
rendered on the first evening and signed the pledge. 



438 MOJ^-STEE MEETINGS 

In order that abetter idea may Ibe had of the 
character of the revival meetings in the rural 
villages and interior cities, we will now proceed 
to describe the conquest of Yirden, Illinois, as a 
sample. 

The Royal Purple movement opened there on a 
Thursday night in the Methodist church. The 
house was thronged to its fullest capacity by an 
attentive audience, which, though showing some 
lukewarmness in the early part of the evening, 
paid careful, and at times rapt attention to Mr. 
Campbell's ''talk." It is proper to call Mr. 
Campbell's effort a talk, for this, and not staid 
and formal lectures and sermons, seemed to be 
the means endued with the most weighty in- 
fluence for good. 

After an hour or more devoted to talk, during 
which some tearful eyes were seen, the pledge 
was read and a call made for signers. The audi- 
ence at first was slow, — each waiting for his 
neighbor to start — and for a moment the speaker's 
heart was heavy with doubt as to the success of 
the cause there. But the tide, though slow, 
started, and for a time it seemed that the whole 
audience was moving up. During the time de- 
voted to signing the pledge and receiving the 
decoration of the Purple Ribbon, the audience 
was favored with excellent singing, led by Rev. 
Mr. Pitcher, from Girard. Prominent among the 
songs was " Hold the Fort." The audience and 
the whole community felt heartily thankful to 



' IN MAJNT PLACES. 439 

Hev. Mr. Pilcher for the splendid impetus he gave 
the opening meeting there by his musical help. 

Before calling for signers, Mr. Campbell said 
an audience like that ought to furnish two hun- 
dred signers at once. Few present expected to 
see his hopes fully gratified, but the tide moved 
on and on until three hundred and eight names 
were inscribed on the rolls, and three hundred 
and eight purple badges were pinned on by 
young ladies of the committee on pledges and 
badges. Was not this pretty good for the first 
night ? But men said that the permanent good 
would not be commensurate Avith the magnitude 
of the movement, but that probably some per- 
manent good would be done. But the thought 
came : If one man is rescued from a downward 
road leading to degradation and ending in an un- 
honored grave, — if one man is sent home to his 
wife and children with the constant light of 
reason in his eye and his manliness and self 
respect restored, who shall say that all tliat the 
community could do did not meet an ample 
fruitage and reward. 

Saturday evening the doors of the church were 
again thrown open, and a mighty throng gathered, 
many of whom went to see about returning to 
the path of sobriety and respectability ; and, as 
usual, many to laugh and jeer. 

The first speaker. Rev. T. F. Borchers, spoke 
half an hour, directing his very pertinent and 
truthful appeal mainly to young men and young 



440 MO]^STER MEETINGS 

women; to joung men who are "being led off by 
appetite or associations into the path which is 
strewn all down the fruitful ages with the ruins 
of manly lives and the wrecks of sacred homes ; 
and to the young women who have so much 
power, if wisely and faithfully used, to hold 
their footsteps steadfast in the sunlit road where 
bloom perennially the flowers of social faith, 
household peace and self-respect, without which 
no man is safe. 

Mr. Campbell followed with a "talk" which, if 
not eloquent, was powerfully earnest, and struck 
a key note in temperance reform. He spoke to 
"moderate drinkers" — to men who are toying 
with an evil which they see every day is degrad- 
ing other men's lives and clouding with midnight 
despair other men's homes. People are too 
ready to assail old, bloated, disfigured rum sots. 
But these moderate^ drinkers, these respectable 
men, in churches and out, who are setting an 
example that is daily death to other men around 
— these are they who everywhere stand in the 
way of successful reform, and in the way of per- 
sonal and municipal control of this matter. 

And moderate drinkers who feel so safe and 
secure in their strength and self-control, were 
called upon to reflect that all these ruined char- 
acters and degraded lives — sunk in drunkenness 
— were once moderate drinkers — that they were 
all recruited from their ranks ? 

There were men who listened to Mr. Campbell's 



. In maky places. 441 

words that eight, and went awaj ridiculing his 
advice and admiring their own self control in a 
^'moderately evil course," who, in all probability, 
will one day look up out of the depths and real- 
ize that they too were drafted from the army of 
moderate reserves into the bottom ranks of the 
unconlrolably ruined, — drafted by the same fate- 
ful spell that drew thither all the other sorts 
A. Iiom they scorn. The result was 129 names 
added that night. 

The children's meeting on Saturday afternoon 
was fully attended, and Mr. Campbell gave them 
an earnest simple talk adapted to their under- 
standing, after which 83 were decorated with the 
purple badge. 

Monday night the house was packed to its 
fullest capacity, and after ten minutes remarks 
by B. Cowen, Mr. Campbell said he would give 
a sketch of the history of the wasted years of his 
life. 

Oh, that simple, earnest, sad, melancholy 
recital ! Oh, that manly, strong, kind, heartfelt 
and Christly appeal to young men to avoid the 
ways and temptations that led him into this 
rushing whirlpool of pain and remorse and 
touching memories that we know no lapse of 
well-spent years can ever obliterate! 

The vast audience listened with the finest at- 
tention to the — eloquent talk, shall we sa}^? Yes, 
but it was not the eloquence of embellished ora- 
tory, but of earnest appeal — as of one who had 



443 MONSTEE MEETmaS 

"been down into the depths and would warn 
others. 

The result of the day's, or rather evening's, 
work at Yirden was the signatures of seven hun- 
dred persons attached to the pledge. And the 
work went on until the town was free from 
drunkenness, if not from intemperance — which, 
though it assumes to be more respectable, is yet 
a more formidable foe to morality than sottish- 
ness. Such were the victories at Yirden, and 
victories like it have gladdened the hearts of 
temperance men and women in a thousand towns 
and cities since the reform movement com- 
menced. 

At Sedalia, Missouri, a city of 8,000 or 10,000 
inhabitants, a temperance revival was inaugu- 
rated early in the year 1877. The meetings were 
attended by vast crowds, and the enthusiasm was 
very great. The Rev. Mr. Pierce was foremost 
in leading this uprising in its inception. But he 
was soon joined by others. Among those who 
early came to the front and labored earnestly 
and successfully in the canse at Sedalia, was 
Major W. Y, Pemberton, who was Assistant 
Secretary of the State Senate. Major Pember- 
ton possessed considerable ability as a speaker 
and delivered a number of addresses which pro- 
duced telling effects upon the people. Hundreds 
were induced to sign the pledge and declare their 
independence of the tj^^ant appetites which had 
long held them in bondage. The work accom- 



m MANY PLACES. 443 

plislied at Sedalia was truly remarkaWe. That 
place had long been noted for the number of its 
drinking saloons and the extent to which intem- 
perate habits prevailed among.its people. The 
whisky power was almost overthrown there dur- 
ing the latter part of tlie year 1877. 

At Lebanon, the seat of justice of Laclede 
County, Missouri, the temperance cause was won- 
derfully successful. The meetings were attended 
by hundreds, and the dram-selling interests suf- 
fered an overwhelming defeat. 

Steelville, a pleasant village, the seat of jus- 
tice of Crawford county, Missouri, and Salem, 
the capital of the adjoining county of Dent, both 
in S6uth Missouri, and situated in the iron -min- 
ing region, were early affected by the mighty 
temperance wave which had swept over so vast 
a region of our country. At these places fortun- 
ately there were men of warm hearts and culti- 
vated intellects to take up the war cry against 
the evils of dram-drinking. At Steelville, be- 
fore the close of the year 1877, the last saloon 
succumbed. There were no patrons of the bar, 
and the dram-shop keeper, yielding to an inex- 
orable necessity, closed his place. All the drug- 
gists had become temperance men, and Steel- 
ville was about the last place a "jolly toper" 
would willingly seek. 

The movement spread through Crawford, Dent 
and Phelps counties, and at the close of the year 
1877, it was estimated that more than two thirds 



444 Mo:s^sTER meetings 

of the inhabitants of those counties were pledged 
to total abstinence, and enrolled in temperance 
organizations. 

A largely attended Good Templars' convention 
was held at Steelville just before Christmas, and 
public meetings, attended by immense throngs 
of people, were held in the evenings. These meet- 
ings were addressed by the ministers of the place 
and by others. Among those who delivered able 
speeches were Hon. S. H. Sherlock of Salem, Dr. 
Robert AYatson of Paducah, Kentucky, and Dr. 
J. E. Thompson, also of Salem. The address of 
the last named, who is a prominent physician of 
Southern Missouri, is so favorable a specimen of 
the character of the speeches of the talented 
Western temperance workers that an apology for- 
giving somewhat lengthy extracts is deemed un- 
necessary. The following may be regarded as 
strong language to come from a Missouri temper- 
ance orator: 

Apply the law of equality in values to the 
liquor traffic and let us see the result. 

The vender takes a benefit — money — from his 
customer : this is undeniable. 

But what does he give in return ? This in- 
equality in traffic — this avarice — which induces 
man to sell a violent poison to his fellow men as 
a daily beverage, opens a flood-gate to all species 
of vice and dishonesty. 

The ordinary ^ains derived from a legitimate 
traffic in distilled and fermented liquors, fail to 
satisfy — fail to satiate the hell-thirst for money 
within the breast of the dealer ; therefore, he 



IN MANY PLACES. 445 

calls in jaundiced- eyed fraud to complete the 
dirty work ; and where the largest benefit lies, 
there the work begins. 

The distiller begins by robbing the government 
of its revenue ; the rectifier continues these liigh- 
handed frauds in tlieir vile decoctions ; while the 
retail dealers both cheat and poison their custo- 
mers with these abominable mixtures; thus adding 
crime to dishonesty, they trample underfoot every 
principle of morality and evade and openly vio- 
late the plain statutes of the state. 

We ask again, what does the vender of intoxi- 
cating drinks give his customers in return ? 

That which contributes to his customer's 
health or happiness; to his social or moral im- 
provement ; to the fertility of his farm ; to the 
prosperity of his business or profession ; or to 
the peace and comfort of his family ? 

Has the farmer more acres of land, or are they 
better cultivated for his patronage of the spirit 
vender? Has the day laborer more certainty of 
employment, or has he more dollars for six days' 
work for his patronage of " the doggery ? " Has 
the mechanic more contracts, and are they con- 
ducted with more physical energy and greater 
mechanical skill and larger profits for his patron- 
age of the dram-seller? Has the attorney more 
and richer clients, and does he conduct their 
cause with more tact and greater legal ability for 
his patronage of the fashionable bar-room ? Has 
the physician more patients able to pay remuner- 
ative fees, or does he treat their ailments with 
better success and greater skill for his patronage 
of the drug-store sample rooms ? Has the mer- 
chant larger sales and greater profits, or does Vo 
please and accommodate his customers the b< 
for his after-business hours' debauchery in 1. 



446 MOIs^STER MEETIISrGS 

ionable drinking saloons ? Can all classes of 
business men boast of a better credit, a larger 
custom, or more money in bank for their patron- 
age of the liquor-traffic ? Can the wife boast of 
a more sumptuous and happy home, because of 
her husband's patronage of tlie alcohol vender ? 
Can the minister boast of a more liberal and de- 
vout congregation because of their frequenting 
the beer garden? Can our universities and 
schools boast of more orderly and attentive 
classes, or of a more rapid intellectual growth 
of its students because of their Sunday dissipa- 
tion at fashionable drinking resorts ? Can our 
towns and cities boast of more order, greater se- 
curity, a greater amount of moral and intellec- 
tual "worth, greater industry, more enterprise, 
wealth and honor, because of the existence of 
drinking houses within tlieir limits and their lib- 
eral patronage by their population ? Can a staie 
boast of more patriotism, more honor, virtue and 
frugality, more domestic tranquility and Chris- 
tian philanthropy, more moral and intellectual 
culture and greater security to life, limb, proper- 
ty and reputation, greater agricultural prosperi- 
ty and internal development, greater material 
wealth and commercial advantages, a greater 
number of churches, school-houses, colleges 
and charitable institutions, more humane laws 
and a swifter administration of justice, or a 
greater abhorrence of crime, idleness, debauchery, 
ignorance, disorder and every species of vice, 
because of the number and wealth of her liquor 
dealers, and the freedom with which they are up- 
held arid patronized by all classes of her citizens ? 
Can the politicians boast of a more substantial 
popularity and influence, greater wisdom, more 
honesty and love of country, because of their 



. IN MANY PLACES. 447 

patronage of tlie rum- seller, or because of tlieir 
lierdinof voters by hundreds into crowds of 
revelers by gorging and debauching them with 
intoxicating drinks ? Ask the inebriate what he 
has gained by the liquor traffic ? His impaired 
constitution and social degradation shall testify. 
Ask his habitation? Its fallen chimney and 
rag-stulTed windows shall answer. Ask his 
acres of land what they have gained by the 
liquor traffic? Its shackling, empty granaries, 
dilapidated fences and weed-grown fields sliall 
give evidence. Ask his mechanical trade what 
it has gained? Its rusty tools and silent anvils 
shall furnish testimony. Ask his mercantile busi- 
ness what it has gained by the liquor trade ? Its 
idle counters, worthless assets and protested 
drafts shall testify. Ask his law and medical 
office what they have gained? Their dusty, for- 
saken libraries, valueless bills and notes, 
empty bottles, unfilled desks and sheriff's exe- 
cutions shall proclaim the truth. " 

Ask his school or college what they have gain- 
ed by the liquor business ? Their deserted halls, 
dilapidated walls, vacant professors' chairs, cor- 
rupted morals and skeptical students shall fur- 
nish the melancholy reply. Ask his incorj)orated 
town or city w^hat they have gained b.y fostering 
the liquor trade? Their midnight brawis, street 
fights, brutal husbands, inconstant wives, broken 
sidewalks, empty churches, unattended schools, 
unwise heads, weak and seared consciences, 
moneyless purses, broken hearts, wretched women 
and starving children, crowded jails, thronged 
courts, busy lawyers, industrious sheriffs, high 
taxation and congregations of paupers, shall wail 
forth the only answer that can be given — there- 
suit of th© curse of alcohol. 



448 MOIS-STEK MEETINGS 

Ask Ms state, what she has gained "by protect- 
ing the liquor traffic ? Her high rate of taxation ; 
her inefficient officials ; her over-populated pene- 
tentiaries and asylums; her impoverished treas- 
ury and enormous public debt ; her depreciated 
bonds and failing credit ; her bad legislation and 
weak-handed justice; her thriftless, besotted, 
ignorant, immoral and skeptical people shall tes- 
tify ! Great God! what a catalogue of benefits! 

The above illustrates in some degree the rug- 
ged force characteristic of the western temper- 
ance advocate. Dr. Thompson has had large 
experience as a practicing physician. In that 
experience he has learned much of the sufferings 
entailed upon innumerable families by the liquor 
traffic, and he speaks with no little feeling of the 
horrible nature of the business. But his speeches 
are not all argument. He fully illustrates his 
position hy instances which have fallen under 
his own observation. We give two of the stories 
he tells of the results flowing from the trade in 
liquors, because of their truth and pertinency to 
the subject which they so pathetically illustrate. 

A man in Arkansas who had been a planterj 
and who had lived at his ease, if not in affluence, 
drank till all his substance was gone and he be- 
came an abandoned sot. His four little children 
were left entirely to their mother's care, and her 
poor heart was often broken by their cries for 
bread. 

She arose one January morning, leaving them 
asleep upon the floor where they had laid around 
her during the ni^ht, huddled together for 
mutual warmth, scarcely half covered with a few 



MANY l^LACES. 449 

old blankets and rags. While she was carding 
cotton to earn food with which to satisfy their 
hunger, one of them awoke, crying piteously for 
something to eat. The noise of the first awoke 
the second, and soon all four were around her 
begging for what she could not give them. This 
heart-rending scene continued for some time, 
when a neighboring lady, for whom she had done 
some spinning, sent her a bushel of corn. She 
gave the grain to her husband and requested him 
to carry it to a mill only half a mile distant, and 
waited anxiously for his return. Grown keener 
now at the thought of food, the dear little ones 
became more clamorous than ever, and tortur- 
ing cries for bread tore asunder that poor moth- 
er's heart. Two long hours elapsed, and the 
father had not returned. "What can be the rea- 
son?" asked the mother in her anxiety. A 
dreadful suspicion rushed through her brain. 
There was a " doggery " near by the mill. She 
hastened after him with an aching heart. And 
lo ! there he came reeling homeward with a jug 
full of whisky, instead of the meal. The keeper 
of the doggery had robbed him of his childrens' 
bread ! That drunken spree brought on a violent 
attack of pneumonia, and the man died, lost his 
soul, and left his wife and children beggars upon 
the community. And all this was the outgrowth 
of the liquor traffic. 

A few years later, on a cold December day, a 
man seventy-six years old, accompanied by his 
little grandson nine years of age, came to town 
to sell some hogs. Long before night the old 
man became quite drunk, when the little boy be- 
gan pleading with his grandfather to get their 
horses and return home. But no, " I'll go pres- 
ently, sonny," replied the old man, still drinking 



450 MONSTER MEETIK&S 

glass after glass at the bar of tlie saloon. Niglit 
came on with sleet and cold. The bar-keeper 
closed his place and left the old man and boy to 
care for themselves, or rather the faithful grand- 
son to care for his beloved grandpapa. Early- 
next morning the old man and boy were found 
closely huddled together on the sleety ground 
near where their horses were tied in the out- 
skirts of town. The old man was dead— frozen 
to death ! — while the faithful little boy, though 
alive, was frozen so badly that both feet had to 
be amputated in order to save his life. TTie 
worli of the rum-seller ! 

Dr. Thompson is also capable of employing 
genuine pathos in dealing with this hateful sub- 
ject. His description of the horrors of delirium 
tremens is truly harrowing — though a simple 
statement of what he has seen and heard while 
watching by the bedside of a rum-ruined patient. 
We have space to give but a single extract more : 

Many a Jacob has been bereft of his Joseph 
and his Benjamin, bringing down the gray hairs 
of the aged in sorrow to the tomb. And the 
sunny hopes of gifted and aspiring youth have 
been obscured by the blackness of darkness for- 
ever. 

Look abroad over the earth, and what do jou 
behold ? Hearts crushed and bleeding ; honest 
laborers stripped of the last hard earned dollar ; 
widows and orphans turned out penniless, shel- 
terless upon the cold, cold charities of the world ; 
the virtuous and respectable despoiled of a stain- 
less reputation and covered with a cloud of in- 
famy, and men by the myriads wearing the image 
of their God, murdered, soul and body, on the 



11^ MAKY PLACES. . 451 

high road to immortality ! Cast your eyes over 
this reeking Aceldama : and as you behold, once 
more let me whisper^nay, let me speak in a tone 
that shall wake the echoes of the mountains : 
All this is the work of the liquor traffic. 

Thu-s the work went on. Not one but hundreds 
of men, such as Dr. Thompson, all over the west, 
came to the front and speedily proved how valu- 
able they could be in advancing the cause. At 
St. Joseph, Hannibal, Liberty, Louisiana, Cali- 
fornia, Carthage, Joplin, Cape Girardeau and 
numerous other places in Missouri the occasion 
never lagged for the want a man to come forward 
as a leader. 

Jefferson City, the capital of the common- 
wealth, with a population of about 6,000, boasted 
its fifty saloons. Being the seat of government, 
there was much inebriation, not only among 
strangers in the city temporarily, but among the 
citizens. In the town of Chamois, about 20 
miles away, resided Hon. W. J. Knott, an ex- 
member of the legislature, and well known 
9 ■ throughout the state. Mr. Knott had been long 
a temperance man,- and a believer in the possi- 
bility of fallen men being restored to respecta- 
bility among their fellows. He had hope, too, 
for the state capital. In Jefferson Ciry also 
resided a gentleman, well known and well liked 
by hundreds of men throughout the state, who 
knew what it was to be the victim of alcohol. 
He had suffered himself from the fatal cup. Mr. 
Knott resolved to attempt something for the state 



452 MOKSTER MEETINGS IN MANY PLACES. 

capital. He was seconded in tliat resolution by 
Tennie Mathews, the gentleman above alluded to, 
who had meanwhile reformed. They opened 
their campaign. The circumstances all seemed 
rather against them at first. But the ministers 
came to their help. Some of the churches were 
opened to them, and in less than three da^'s a 
large club was organized. In one week after- 
ward, a leading saloon-keeper there wrote to a 
friend in St. Louis, ''The Murphyites threaten to 
take the town. Our business is almost ruined." 
Several hundred took the pledge, and the work 
at Jefferson City was exceedingly gratifying tcr 
the friends of temperance. 

And so the great meetings in favor of temper- 
ance continued in many places. In the east and 
in the west, mass-meetings were held, and the 
gospel of temperance was thundered into all 
ears. 



CHAPTER XXYII. 

EMINENT WOMEN IN THE CAUSE OF EEFOEM. 

The Women's Temperance Crusade was a 
spontaneous impulse of the mothers, wives and 
daughters of the land to make war upon a traffic 
which was ruining their sons, husbands and 
brothers. In point of time it came upon the 
country after Osgood and Murphy had com- 
menced the work of organizing reform clubs. 
The conflict which they engaged in was brief but 
exciting, and crowned with many glorious victo- 
ries. But, whatever may have been the provo- 
cation, however pure and lofty the motives 
which actuated them, judicious minds could not 
be brought to the point of fully endorsing the 
methods to which they had resorted in order to 
accomplish their object. What could they do 
then? Organize for earnest and persistent efl'ort 
in a way less objectionable to the popular senti- 
ment. There was ^'Mother" Stewart, Mrs. 
Thompson, Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer, Mrs. Burt, 
Miss Frances E. Willard and scores of others 
whose souls were made heavy by the devasta- 
tions of the drink demon. Could those noble 



454 EMIISTEIfT WOMEIfIN 

women furl tlie banner of resistance ? Could they 
fold their hands, sit down, and remain quiet while 
the engulfing tides of sin and shame continued 
to roll over the land ? Could they look abroad 
and see the ruin of homes, hear the cries of dis- 
tress, and behold their sorrow-stricken sisters 
plunged into the deepest pits of despair un- 
moved? No. Such a life of inaction to such 
spirits would have been torture unendurable to 
them. Is it not written of woman, "She stretch- 
eth out her hand to the poor, yea she reacheth 
forth her hand to the needy. She openeth her 
mouth with wisdom ; and in her tongue is the 
law of kindness ?" And again it is said, ''Strength 
and honor are her clothing ; and she shall re- 
joice in time to come." Nor will it do to forget 
that woman's devotion enchained her last to the 
Mount of Suffering, and brought her first to the 
sepulcher of the crucified Redeemer. 

The first intimation of a Women's Christian 
Temperance Union was given out during the 
Sunday School Convention at Chautauqua Lake, 
in the summer of 1874. Several earnest temper- 
ance meetings were held there, an interest was 
awakened, and some of the chief women talked 
the matter over. A committee on organization 
was appointed, and a call was issued for the 
assembling of a Women's Christian Temperance 
Convention at Cleveland, Ohio. November 18th, 
1874. 

"The Committee of Organizaticn" was com- 



THE CAUSE OF REFORM. 455 

posed of Mrs. Dr. Ganse, then of PMladelpMa ; 
Mrs. E. J. Knowles, Newark, N. J. ; Mrs. Mattie 
McClellan Brown, Alliance, Ohio ; Mrs. Dr. 
Steele, Appleton, Wisconsin ; Mrs. W. D. Bar- 
nett, Hiawatha, Kansas ; Miss Auretta Hoyt, 
Indianapolis, Indiana; Mrs. Jennie F. Willing, 
Bloomington, Illinois ; Mrs. Ingham Stanton, Le 
Hoy, N". Y. ; Mrs. Frances Crooks, Baltimore, 
Maryland, and Miss Emma James, Oakland, 
California ; Mrs Jennie F. Willing of Blooming- 
ton, Illinois, was placed at the head of this com- 
mittee and Emily Huntington Miller was made 
secretary. 

The convention at Cleveland was continued dur- 
ing three days, and was attended by delegates rep- 
resenting sixteen states. Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer, 
of Philadelphia, was elected President of the 
Women's Christian Temperance Union, which was 
organized at that convention; and Miss Frances E. 
Willard, of Chicago, was made Corresponding 
Secretary ; Mrs. Mary E. Johnson, of Brooklyn, 
Recording Secretary ; Mary E. Ingham, of Cleve- 
land, Treasurer; with one Yice-President from 
each of the states represented in the convention. 

The first formal declaration made by this body 
was not uncertain in its meaning. In it they 
recognized the fact " that as our cause is and is to 
be combated by mighty, determined and relent- 
less forces, we will, trusting in Him who is the 
Prince of Peace, meet argument with argument, 
misjudgment with patience, denunciation with 



456 EMII^ENT WOMEN IN 

kindness, and all our difflculties and dangers 
with prayer." 

The spirit which animated the members of that 
convention is exhibited.in the following language 
emploj^ed by a prominent member and delivered 
during its sitting : 

Woman is ordained to lead the van-guard of 
this great movement until the American public 
is borne across the abysmal transition from the 
superstitious notions that " alcohol is food," to 
the scientific fact that alcohol is poison ; from 
the pusillanimous concession that " intemperance 
is a great evil," to the responsible conviction that 
the liquor-traffic is a crime. 

The women having thus organized themselves, 
proceeded to consolidate their strength and es- 
tablish a medium of intercommunication between 
the active workers in the different states. The 
Women'' s Temperance C^7iz6)7Z was established as a 
monthly in Philadelphia, with Mrs. Annie Witten- 
meyer as editor, and Miss Willard and Mrs. 
Johnson as associate editors. They also pub- 
lished a small book, entitled "Hints and Helps," 
which contained valuable matter for the workers 
in the field. 

The Centennial Exposition and the International 
Temperance Conference were occasions which 
brought into prominence the valuable aid to the 
cause of temperance rendered by the women. 

That was a sort of temperance jubilee at Phil- 
adelphia in 1876, when workers in the cause from 
nearly every civilized country from under the 



THE CAUSE OF EEFORM. 457 

sun gathered to our ISTatioiial celebration, and 
exchanged vieAvs and greetings. It was a love- 
feast of the cold water host. Catholic, Protes- 
tant and Greek church temperance workers, and 
men of no church connections of any sort, all 
congregated in a friendly manner in Fairmount 
Park. The Roman Catholic Total Abstinence 
Union erected a magnificient cold water fountain 
on the grounds, which is well presented in a cut 
in this volume. The Sons of Temperance erected 
another, and all the temperance societies in 
Europe, America, Oceanica and Asia were rep- 
resented at the International Temperance Con- 
ference, either by personal delegates or by cor- 
respondence. In the work of getting up this 
great convocation which has been productive of 
such splendid results, the women were conspicu- 
ously active. 

Among the prominent workers of the Women's 
Christian Temperance Union there are some who 
are entitled to more than a passing mention in 
these pages. Of Miss Frances E. Willard, of 
Chicago, we have had frequent occasion to speak. 
So also of Mrs. Livermore, Mrs. Mary C. 
Burt, Mrs. Annie Wittenmeyer and many others. 
Among western women temperance advocates 
there are many noble women, who, by their 
abundant good works, are ennobling their sex. 

Mrs. Louisa F. Rounds, of Chicago, Illinois, 
who was. Assistant Corresponding Secretary of 
the Women's National Christian Temperance 



458 EMII^EIN^T WOMEN IN 

Union in 1877, and also Corresponding Secretary 
of ihe Chicago Union for several years, where 
she had daily supervision of the work, is a 
woman of great executive ability, of devoted 
piety and a very effective speaker. Perhaps, 
aside from her power over an audience for which 
she is peculiarly fitted, her chief characteristic 
is common sense, a rare but most needed qualit}^ 
Her ancestral line runs hack to John Alden of 
the Mayflower, and the pure blood of the Puritan 
flows in her veins. 

Born at the east, she became a teacher at 15 
years of age, and after three years of *successful 
work, a student at Gouverneur Wesleyan Sem- 
inary ; there teaching until her marriage, when 
she came to Chicago to reside. Till the Crusade 
she gave her entire leisure time to the church 
and private mission work. For two years she 
was engaged in foreign mission work, and was one 
of the flf ty brave women who in the early Crusade 
days visited the Common Council of Chicago 
with a petition asking that body not to repeal 
the Sunday liquor law, and the country knows 
too well the treatment they received from the 
mob. She has visited saloons, distributed tracts 
and spoken before large audiences east and 
west; spent six months in Colorado, where she 
was the instrument of securing the election of an 
anti-license ticket at Colorado Springs. Thou- 
sands have signed the pledge for her. . She has 
been greatly blest in her work in Farwell Hall 




MISS FRANCES E. WILLARD. 



THE CAUSE OE REEORM. 461 

and other places in Chicago, and in the homes of 
those made wretched by drink. She prays daily, 
^'Dear Lord, make the most and best thou canst 
out of m.e to-day." She has one of the strongest 
of total abstinence men for her husband, and has 
his constant encouragement in her work. 

Another Christian woman whose praise is in 
the mouths of thousands is Mrs. Mary A. Wood- 
bridge, of Ravenna, Ohio, who was Assistant Re- 
cording Secretary of the Women's National Chris- 
tian Temperance Union during the year 1877, and 
re-elected for another term in 1878. Mrs. Wood- 
bridge is a gifted woman whose clear judgment 
and able speech have made her most valuable in 
Ohio and elsewhere. She is the daughter of Judge 
Bray ton, of Nantucket, a member of the Massa- 
chusetts Legislature when Edward Everett was 
Governor of that State, long a member of the 
Ohio Legislature, and author of the bill by which 
its public institutions are now controlled. Her 
mother is the sister of Dr. Mitchell, the astron- 
omer, father of Prof. Maria Mitchell, of Yassar 
College, and she comes naturally by her culture 
and devotion to the right. Mrs. Woodbridge was 
educated at Hudson College, Ohio. Her pen has 
been used publicly and privately in the advocacy 
of philanthropic and Christian reforms. She has 
been in the.foreign mission work for many j^ears, 
but her real public life commenced with the Cru- 
sade. She has engagements for weeks in advance, 
speaking each evening on temperance and Sab- 



462 EMINEIS'T WOMEIN- IN 

< 

"batli mornings on foreign missions. Her husband 
lias become a Christian since she entered the 
work, and heartily indorses her every effort for 
the salvation of souls. She is the mother of three 
children who know and appreciate her. Her 
own words, " The baptism He has granted me 
would of itself be a sufficient reward, but the souls 
saved are an unspeakable joy to me, " show the 
heart of this devoted woman. 

There are some people whose faith is dearer to 
them than wealth, friends — life itself. To con- 
victions of duty all things must be subordinated. 
It is true that in these evil days there are few 
who possess this sublime faith. Among those 
few it would not be extravagant to* name Miss 
Lucia E. F. Kimball, of Chicago, Illinois, who was 
General Superintendent of Sunday School work 
for the Women's National Christian Temperance 
Union. She is a young lady of most prepossess- 
ing manners and attractive face. A New Eng- 
lander by birth, a graduate of Mount Holyoke 
Seminary, she came west to take a responsible 
position in a grammar school in Chicago. She 
was an enthusiastic and very successful teacher 
till the jemoval of the Bible from the public 
schools, when she at once resigned, feeling un- 
willing to teach under such circumstances. She 
had already given much time to literary labors, 
and, being fond of study, had determined to make 
this her life work ; but, being interested in miss- 
ion schools and doing much good work among 



Mte CAUSE OF REFOEM. 463 

the poor, especially among tlie Germans, where 
she was always gladly welcomed, pity for the 
little children who suffered so fearfully from the 
results of intemperance, led her to take up juven- 
ile temperance work with all the warmth of an 
earnest soul, and the capacity of a cultured mind. 
She corresponded for years for the Advance and 
for eastern papers ; published a well written book 
entitled "In Memoriam," in memory of her mother, 
and has performed other literary work. At many 
of the large temperance gatherings, as at Old 
Orchard Beach, she has been requested to present 
the cause, and by her convincing arguments, 
choice language and persuasive voice, has de- 
lighted all who heard her. She has addressed 
large audiences in the eastern churches with 
acceptance. So anxious was she that the juvenile 
work might become a part of the regular Sunday 
School work — the church and its auxiliaries being 
the stronghold in this cause — that she met the 
Sunday School Superintendents of the city of 
Chicago at their monthly meeting, and presented 
her plan of having a temperance lesson each 
quarterly Sunday. It was unanimously adopted, 
and she was requested to prepare a temperance 
concert exei-cise, which was used in the schools 
most successfully. By the action of the last na- 
tional convention. State Superintendents of Sun- 
day School work were appointed, Miss KimbalFs 
concert exercise adopted, and she was requested 
to prepare three others for 1878. She is eminent- 



464 EMINEi^T WOMET^" IIT 

ly fitted to superintend the national work in Sun- 
day Schools. 

Mrs. M. B. Hudson, of Detroit, Michigan, is a 
member of the Women's Temperance Union of 
the state, and also a leading spirit in the Detroit 
Union. She is a cultivated, noble woman, whose 
sociar and Christian power has been of great 
benefit to the temperance cause, and whose un- 
tiring labors have helped to make Michigan the 
banner state in this reform, 200,000 having signed 
the pledge there during the year 1877. She was 
born in Massachusetts, was a graduate of Oberlin 
College and a teacher till her marriage with 
Prof. T. B. Hudson, Professor first of Mathemat- 
ics, then of Latin and Greek in the same college 
till his deatli. He was a thorough reformer, a 
total abstainer and an earnest literary worker 
and accurate scholar. Mrs. Hudson's life has 
been both domestic and public. Tliough twenty 
years a widow, she has taught several hours a day 
until wichin the past ten years, and has always 
been earnest in home mission work. With such 
a father and mother, it is not strange that her 
two sons are editors, one, of the Detroit Po5^a7^<^ 
Tribune^ a very talented young man, formerly 
a member of the Ohio Legislature, and one 
daughter a teacher. She says, '' Mine eyes have 
seen the coming of the glory of the Lord, in re- 
moving one of the frightful curses of our country. 
I do not despair of living to see the other, if not 
overthrown, at least so shaken and weakened as 



THE CAtrsE OF REFOBM. 465 

to foreshadow its entire destruction. May God 
in His mercy hasten the time." Such women 
make the temperance cause a power in the land. 
Mrs. T. B. Corse was President of the Women's 
Christian Temperance Union of Chicago in 1877, 
and re-elected to that position again in 1878. She 
was for years President of the " Foundlings' 
Home " Association of that city. She is an ef- 
ficient, devoted woman, of lovely character, puri- 
fied by suffering, and a sympathy that makes 
'' the whole world kin." She says, " I must work 
for others to overcome my own sorrows." A 
member of the church at the age of seventeen 
years, always a successful teacher in the Sabbath 
school, her pupils nearly all becoming Christians ; 
President of a Young Ladies' Benevolent Society 
before she was out of her teens ; married to a 
noble Christian man, a leader in every good 
cause ; after a few brief years in their beautiful 
home on the banks of the Ohio, seeking Southern 
Europe with him and their three young boys to 
save the fatlier's life. She came back a widow, 
with her young heart crushed, but reconsecrated 
to the Master's work. The Foundlings' Home 
had just been opened, though only in an humble 
way. Mrs. Corse was chosen President, and the 
work became very dear to her. The institution 
now has a beautiful home and grounds worth 
$50,000, and its organ, Fault's Record^ has helped 
many a doubting heart. Called to New York by 
the painful illness of her youngest son for two 



466 EMINENT WOMEK IJf * 

years, she was there at the beginning of the 
crusade, and, though in the midst of many who 
scoffed, she believed the work was of God. As 
soon 3.S she returned to Chicago she entered 
heartily into the labors of her sisters. Soon 
after, going one day about noon to Rose Hill to 
visit the grave of her husband, kissing her young 
boy with a grateful heart for his recovery, she 
returned at 6 o'clock to find the blue eyes closed 
forever, and all her caresses gave back no kiss in 
return. He had been killed instantly by a care- 
less driver, almost at his own door-step. God 
emptied her arms that He might fill them with 
the poor and the desolate. For three years, at 
the Temperance Reading Room at the " Bethel," 
the rent of which is given to the Union by that 
institution, Mrs. Corse held a meeting weekly. 
During that time about 60,000 diff'erent persons 
have signed the pledge. A good library has 
been collected, with many papers, and a Chris- 
tian woman in attendance to talk with the way- 
ward men who come there. Mrs. Corse did 
everything to make the late national gathering a* 
success, and to give Chicago a pleasant place in 
the memory of hundreds of women who came 
together from all parts of the countrj^. 

Mrs. D. A. Beale, of Janes ville, Wisconsin, is 
well known throughout that state as an energetic 
temperance worker. She was once a successful 
teacher in Chicago. She is known as a woman 
of great energy, independence of character and 



THE CAUSE OF REEOKM. 467 

unselfish devotion to the temperance cause. Left 
a widow without children, she opened her house 
to some who have needed a mother's love, and 
cared for them as her own. In the summer of 
'73 she took the lead in a movement made by the 
women of Janesville to put down the liquor 
traffic. The Women's State Temperance Alli- 
ance was formed in 1874, largely through her 
influence. She became its Corresponding Secre- 
tary. In 1876 she published a manual and song, 
both for juvenile temperance organizations; has 
contributed to temperance and religious journals, 
both prose and poetry, and is well known in 
missionary work, having made her first public 
addresses in such meetings. She has devoted 
careful study to the temperance question. At 
first she lectured upon its legal aspect, but find- 
ing a great need for education as to the efi'ects of 
alcohol upon the system, gave this her special 
attention, and lectures on physiology in a scien- 
tific, but most interesting manner, so as to please 
as well as instruct her audiences. She is thor- 
oughly conversant with her subject, is an inde- 
fatigable worker in gospel temperance, Sunday 
Schools, and among the prisoners in the jails, 
and is doing a most valuable and effective work. 
Mrs. Willis A. Barnes, though still young in 
years, has accomplished much in belialf of the 
temperance cause. She is also one of the Chi- 
cago band of temperance workers. A Quaker 
by birth, educated at the Packer Institute, 



468 EMINENT WOMEN IN 

Brooklyn, accustomed to the Ibest social life of 
New York, 3^et always a devoted worker among 
the colored people and the poor, she has shown 
how the young and the cultivated can be 
supremely happy in serving God among the low- 
ly. Accustomed like her lovely mother, Mrs. 
Alice, to speak in their own church, she has used 
her gifts for writing and speaking most earnest- 
ly and successfully for temperance. Marrying 
an able young lawyer at the east, a Christian 
and a total abstinence man, and removing to 
Chicago as her new home, she has devoted her 
time, not to society, but to work among the un- 
fortunate. She leads a cheerful life of faith and 
prayer, and has been the means of leading great 
numbers to a similar life. She is one of the 
youngest workers in the temperance work, as 
well as one of the most efficient. 

In England there are very many and efficient 
temperance workers. Among the best known of 
the literary advocates of the cause is the gifted 
Mrs. Sarah C. Hall. This lady has been before 
the reading public for a great many j^ears, as an 
author of no mean distinction. Her works of fic- 
tion have been uniformly popular. She has 
written much in favor of the cause of temper- 
ance, and her books and essays have had an ex- 
tensive influence in the United Kingdom. Always 
elevated and pure in tone, chaste and elegant in 
style, Mrs. Hall's temperance books have exerted 
a most healthful influence on public opinion. 



THE CAUSE OF KEFOEM. 469 

Another noted Englishwoman, whose counsels 
and whose purse have ever been freely given in 
the interest of temperance, is Mrs. Margaret 
Lucas, sister of Hon. John Bright, the distin- 
guished British statesman. Mrs. Lucas resides 
in London, and is connected with most of the 
temperance movements set on foot by the wo- 
men of Great Britain. Her widely extended 
reputation for benevolence and her honorable 
position in society necessarily imposes upon her 
much of the burden of leadership. But she has 
gone forward with a cheerful alacrity worthy of 
all commendation in the discharge of the duties 
of offices which conviction had indicated as 
right. 

Mrs. Ellis, an author of popular repute across 
the ocean, has written much and earnestly in 
advocacy of the temperance cause. Mrs. Ellis' 
works have had an extensive sale, and have re- 
sulted in great sjood to thousands of people. 

Mrs. C. L. Balfour has performed a noble ser- 
vice to the children of Great Britain by her chil- 
dren's books. She stands in the very front rank 
as a writer for the young, and is consecrating her 
brilliant talents to the cause of temperance. 

Mrs. Margaret E. Parker, of Dundee, Scotland, 
first president of the Women's British Temper- 
ance Association, an organization similar to the 
Women's Christian Temperance Union in this 
countr}^, is deserving of mention in these pages. 
She was for many years an earnest worker iu 



470 EMINENT WOMEN IN 

"behalf of the canse of temperance. It was mainly 
through her efforts that a convention of women 
was held at Central Hall, Newcastle-on-Tyne, in 
the spring of 1876. Mrs. Parker was made pres- 
ident of the convention on the motion of Mrs. 
Margaret Lucas. Among other noted temper- 
ance women who attended that convention were 
Mrs. Posslethwaite of Stroud ; Mrs. Bevington, of 
Clay Cross, Derbyshire ; Miss E-ichardson, of 
Bristol ; Mrs. Guide, of Tynemouth, and Miss 
Eliza Wigham, of Edinboro', and Miss Mawson, 
of Gateshead, who was elected secretary of the 
association. 

Mrs, Woyka, of Glasgow, is one of the temper- 
ance women of Great Britain who has worked 
earnestly and successfully in the cause of tem- 
perance in that country. 

Mrs. H. Wigham, of Dublin, is one of the 
representative temperance women of that conn- 
try. She was vice-president for Ireland and of 
the British association in 1876, and was con- 
tinued in office until 1878. 

Even in New Zealand and Australia, the women 
have taken the lead in the temperance movements 
of those distant lands. And it is well that they 
should do so. Everywhere in civilization women 
are peculiarly fitted to carry on the work, and 
lead in the assault on the curse of intemperance. 
They are the greatest sufferers on account of the 
drinking habit, therefore they are deeply inter- 
ested to do away with liquor drinking and the 



THE CAUSE OF UEEOEM. 471 

liquor traffic. The peculiar organization of 
modern civilized society guarantees to them more 
leisure, as a general rule, than men can command, 
to devote to such work. They have more time to 
study the nature of the evil, and investigate as to 
the mode and manner of effecting a removal of it 
from the society of which they form a part. 

Little did the women of the Cleveland conven- 
tion think that such wonderful results would so 
soon follow their resolution to lead in the van- 
guard of the temperance reform. It is a fact, that 
the Women's Christian Temperance Union is es- 
pecially the co-worker with the leagues and clubs 
organized by Murphy, Reynolds and their asso- 
ciates. These Apostles of the temperance cause, 
and all their disciples throughout the country, 
when they enter into a town or city to propagate 
the gospel of temperance, seek first to enlist the 
interest and secure the cooperation of the Wo- 
men's Christian Temperance Union. That is easy 
to do, and thus victory is assured. Who can 
measure the lengths to which women will go, in a 
cause they believe just and holy ? Who can esti- 
mate the force of the influence which they bring 
to bear in such a movement ? They never say 
surrender, but — 

** Keep pushing; 'tis wiser 

Than sitting aside, 
And dreaming, and sighing, 

And waiting the tide. 
In life's sorest battlo 



472 ^MIKENT WOMEir. 

They only prevail 
\ Who daily march onward 

And never say fail ! " 

And they know the tremendous social influence 
they possess, and tliey feel that in a movement of 
the nature of the temperance reform, that with 
united, earnest, prayerful effort, success must 
crown their efforts at last. For, 

'' 'Tis the hand as soft as the nestling bird 

That grips with the grip of steel. 
'Tis the v&ice as low as the summer wind 

That rules without appeal. 
And the warrior, scholar, saint, and sage 

May fight and plan and pray; 
The world will move till the end of time 

In the gentle women's way. '' 

After all, it is not saying too much to assert, 
that the temperance cause, and the great and long 
continued revival could not have been advanced 
and secured such signal triumphs, except for the 
prayers and active labors of women. 



CHAPTER XXYIII. 

SOME PHEISrOMENAL EESULTS EFFECTED. 

It was albout the middle of December, 1877, 
when Mr. L. A. Drew, an earnest and practical 
worker in the temperance reform movement, 
arrived in the city of Des Moines, Iowa, and an- 
nounced his purpose to inaugurate the Murphy 
movement in that place. Des Moines was per- 
haps not the wickedest city in America, nor even 
in Iowa. But before the arrival of Mr. Drew it 
was certainly not a city whose inhabitants were 
altogether saints. 

Being the seat of government of a great and 
growing state, Des Moines was the common cen- 
ter toward which the politicians, both small and 
great, naturally gravitated. In order to accom- 
modate these and their friends, there were many 
drinking saloons. As a matter of course, intem- 
perance was fostered by the existence of these 
manufactories of drunkards. There was sorrow, 
degradation, and pollution enough in that fair 
city to demand an awakening of its citizens to a 



474 SOME PHENOMENAL 

knowledge of the demoralization of society in 
progress in their midst. 

The time came for them to T^e aronsed. The 
agents to produce the shock were present. It 
was no gentle dew of a snmmer night diffusing its 
grateful moisture, but it was a deluge that swept 
over the moral desert and transformed the whole 
aspect of the social life of the people of Des 
Moines. 

xThe very first night that Mr. Drew, aided by a 
number of the best citizens of the place, raised 
the standard of Reform, the promise of an out- 
pouring of blessings was given. But even the 
most sanguine could not then have anticipated 
the splendid triumphs afterward achieved. The 
meetings were immense outpourings of the peo- 
ple. The audiences, night after night, numbered 
not hundreds, but thousands. 

On the second night after Mr. Drew had opened 
the campaign, the immense structure known as 
Exposition hall was crowded to its utmost 
capacity, The audience was a mixed one, repre- 
senting all classes of society — ladies and young 
gentlemen being especially well represented. 
There was something more than idle curiosity to 
cause the interest. A deeper feeling inspired 
this out-pouring of sympathy and this ingather- 
ing of converts. There were some persons in the 
audience who gave evidence that the meeting was 
a thrilling and all important one to them. The res- 
olutions formed, or about to be formed, either by 



' REStJLTS efeecteI). 4t5 

themselves or those near to them, were evidently 
esteemed as the turning points in their lives, and 
v^ere regarded v^ith solicitous anxiety. There 
was a throb of strong though partially repressed 
feeling throughout the evening, and this fact 
was only evidenced by the continual tendency to 
appreciate the comic side of whatever came up. 
Every humorous anecdote or witty sally brought 
forth laughter and applause. People are never 
more ready to laugh than when they are touched 
by real feeling. Humor and pathos are nearly 
allied, and one can scarcely be touched without 
moving the other. So it was that evening, that 
though there was a deep and absorbing interest 
felt by the large majority present, yet every 
humorous subject was received with laughter. 
The utmost harmony prevailed. The class most 
desired to be reached was largely represented; 
namely, the young men of the city. 

Mr. Drew presided. His method is short 
speeches and earnestness in every attempt to 
reach the intellect or the hearts of men. A care- 
ful student of human nature, with a talent for 
applying the knowledge he gains, he proved 
himself an able conductor at Des Moines, as the 
great army of nearly seven thousand, out of a 
population of a little more than twenty-three 
thousand, who assumed the badge of blue, suffi- 
ciently demonstrated. 

Mr. Collins was introduced and plead with his 
heerers to that night abandon the habit of drink- 



4t6 SOME PHENOMENAL 

ing. They all knew him, and understood how 
truly in earnest he was. He gave an example of 
what whisky had done for two young men within 
his own knowledge who started out with equal 
prospects in life, but whisky got the mastery of 
one and he filled a drunkard's grave ; while the 
other, who adhered strictly to temperance, suc- 
ceeded in business, and is to-day worth a million 
dollars. "This is onl}- an isolated case. There 
are thousands of similar cases. Put down your 
names and say, ^ I will never take another drop 
of liquor, and will save myself from a drunkard's 
life and a disgraceful death.' " 

And then Mr. Drew rose, and said it gave him 
pleasure to introduce a gentleman who had been 
to the front and could give some account of the 
progress of the battle. 

And then Mr. John Currier of Lincoln, I^ebraska, 
came on the platform and made a stirring speech. 
He gave a statement of what was being done 
in Nebraska. In Lincoln, Nebraska, 2,000 names 
were secured to the pledge, 1,200 in Seward, and 
1,000 in Tecumseh. The good work was going 
on bravely in that state. He gave his ideas as 
to the proper way of reforming drunkards. He 
said : " You must show them you are interested 
in them, and do something to alleviate their 
physical wants before you can lift them up from 
their degradation, introduce them into good so- 
ciety, and help them to break away from their 
bad associates." 



EESTTLTS EFFECTED. 477 

The glad news from tlie field of conflict was 
received with acclamations of joy by the vast 
audience assembled. The ntmost enthusiasm 
prevailed. The songs they sang were inspiring 
and the speeches were brief, earnest and pointed 
— some of them pathetic. 

After Mr. Currier had made an end of his re- 
lation of glad tidings of great joy to the drink- 
fettered inebriates, Mr. Drew said that there was 
one present on the platform who had an expe- 
rience to relate. It was a sad story, but after so 
many nice little speeches, well seasoned with 
spices and "Attic salt," the audience could afford 
to weep. Tears would relieve the pent up feel- 
ings of the heart, and he was certain that when 
the tale was told, that there would be many 
hearts in that audience ready to break for pity. 
He introduced Mrs. Coombs, who told her pitiful 
story in a touching manner, and with eyes full of 
tears. She said she came up there because she 
thought she could say something to save some 
poor man from the curse of drink. 

" Once I was a happy girl and knew no sorrow. 
I married as good a husband as ever blessed the 
life of any woman. For eleven years nothing 
came to mar our happiness. He was as kind a 
man as was ever known. Otirhome wasahappy 
one, and our life was unclouded. But at last the 
tempter came. My husband yielded to the ap- 
peals of his friends and joined them in the social 
glass. He went gradually downward, and at last 
the horrible truth dawned upon me that my hus- 
band was a drunkard. At tirst it came like a 



478 SOME PHEi^OMEl^Afi 

thunderbolt. I thought I must do what I could to 
win him back, and tried every plan within my 
power. But he was enticed away again and 
again, and I soon lost all control over him. At 
last our house was sold away from us. I sup- 
ported our children by my needle and every 
penny that could be saved was used by my hus- 
band for liquor. For five years I have toiled day 
and night to support my family, and I have seen 
my husband going to ruin as fast as he could. 
And yet this fearful work goes on ! 

Many a night have I put my husband to bed 
and then toiled with my needle until three o'clock 
in the morning. My husband is now an inmate 
of the insane asylum, where he has been brought 
by strong drink. I would rather have buried 
him. God knows I would gladly have followed 
Mm to the grave rather than have seen the doors 
of an insane asylum close after him. If I had 
some means of support for my family I would go 
out and give my efforts to the cause of temper- 
ance. Come to-night and sign this pledge, you 
men, and save your wives from what I have suf- 
fered." 

Mrs. Coombs grew eloquent as she closed her 
touching story. 'No eff'ort of pen, however faith- 
ful, can tell the story as she told it. It should 
be heard as she related it, with tears streaming 
down her cheeks and her voice tremulous with 
emotion, to be properly appreciated. 

And it had its eff'ects. There, before that great 
audience, a stricken, suff'ering woman stood with 
streaming eyes and tremulous voice repeating the 
simple story of her own woes, and the relation 
gtruck sympathetic chords in other hearts. The 



BESULTS EFFECTED. 479 

prediction of the conductor of the meeting was 
verified. T^ars flowed freely from eyes unused 
to weep. The whole audience was thrilled by 
the agonizing appeal of a feeble woman. 

Others spoke with telling efi*ect. The enthusi- 
asm increased as the minutes passed. Many, 
incidents occurred besides this episode to create 
a sensation in the vast audience. 

Judge Hammer made a powerful appeal. He 
was well known and highly esteemed by most 
of those present. At the conclusion of his ad- 
dress, a Mr. Kenworthy, a gentleman known to a 
large proportion of those present, and who, but for 
his intemperate habits, would have been deemed 
worthy of the highest respect, rose from Lis seat 
and made his way to the table in front of the 
rostrum, on which copies of the pledge had been 
placed. He took up a pen and recorded his name 
in token of the vow ]^e had registered before God 
to drink no more. Having done this he ad- 
dressed the audience ; "My friends," he said, 
"you all know me — at least I suppose mest of 
you do. You know that I am a drunkard. I 
know that the curse of intemperance is the most 
awful infliction of punishment that can befall 
man. I know that it destroys health, wastes 
wealth, and brings its victim at last to a dis- 
honored grave. Friends, I have signed the 
pledge here to-night, solemnly engagirg b}' llie 
help of God to live a sober life. I mean to honor 
this obligation or die in the attempt." 



480 SOME PHET^OMENAL 

The scene following this action of a man who 
l3ut for whisky mi^ht have filled high stations in 
life cannot he adequately described. The whole 
audience rose and applauded the resolution of 
the unfortunate gentlemen. 

Then Mr. Drew rose to conclude the meeting. 
His remarks were sometimes earnest and 
pathetic ; then cheery and amusing anecdotes 
were interspersed freely, but always pointed and 
pithy. He showed consummate tact in his method 
of treating the subject, and w^as successful in 
arousing the audience to a full sense of the hate- 
fulness of intemperance. 

And when he concluded that second night of 
battle at Des Moines, three Ttundred and twenty 
of the subjects, or rather slaves, of King Alcohol 
came forward and enlisted in the cause of total 
abstinence. 

And night after night for nearly a month the 
work went on at Des Moines with invariable suc- 
cess. The place of meeting was thronged, and 
hundreds came forward nearly every evening to 
sign the pledge. The whisky interests of that 
place had never before been dealt a blow so pow- 
erful. Before the middle of January, 1878, up- 
wards of seven thousand persons in the city and 
surrounding country districts had taken the 
pledge of total abstinence. 

At a series of temperance meetings which were 
held in Clinton, Iowa, and which closed on Sun- 
day evening, January 6th, 1878, the number of 



RESULTS EPEECTED. 481 

signers secured to tlie pledge was 3,900. The 
most remarkable success attending the move- 
ment was the securing of a fund of $1,300, to be 
used in fitting up a reading and entertainment 
room on strictly temperance principles, many of 
the leading business men subscribing $50 each, 
and others less amounts down to as low as $3. 
Monday morning a procession numbering about 
500, led by a band, escorted Messrs. Drew and 
Getchell to the eastward bound train, and they 
started amid the cheers of the congregated mul- 
titude. 

That this movement has been of benefit to 
Clinton is beyond question. A large number 
who were addicted to drinking signed the pledge. 
The number saved from the evils of intemperance 
shows the work and money were profitably ex- 
pended. 

Clinton is a small place containing a popula- 
tion of not more than five thousand. 

Francis Murphy's temperance work in Troy, 
New York, was remarkably thorough and suc- 
cessful. He held his first meeting on November 
11th, 1877, and made a farewell address on Jan- 
uary 9th, 1878. He took an active part in the 
daily prayer meetings, and addressed from 1,000 
to 1,200 persons every evening. From first to last, 
public interest in the movement was maintained 
with no abatement, and more than 21,000 signa- 
tures to the Murphy jiledge were secured. The 
secret! ^f this reformer's remarkable success is 



482 SOME PHEITOMEIS'AL 

earnestness, cliarity and good sense. He invites 
the cooperation of all temperance workers ; he 
repels no advances ; he makes no enemies ; he 
does his vrork quietly and draws all classes 
around him. 

Among the most earnest of the western tem- 
perance advocates, may be ranked Father O'Hal- 
loran, of the parish church of Edwardsville, 
Illinois. This earnest man cordially united with 
Mr. E. H. Campbell and others in the labors of 
the campaign at Edwardsville, where one of the 
most signal victories over intemperance was 
gained. Father O'Halloran delivered a num- 
ber of stirring addresses at that place which 
greatly aided the cause. But this zealous priest 
did not confine his labors to Edwardsville. The 
te'mperance cause having achieved a signal tri- 
umph in his own parish, Father O'Halloran ac- 
cepted an invitation to go to Alton, where he ad- 
dressed an immense audience. The effect was 
truly wonderful. Several hundred signed the 
pledge that evening. Subsequently, Father O'Hal- 
loran received a pressing invitation to visit Kirk- 
wood, Mo. Ever ready to advance to the attack on 
whatever he conceived to be inimical to religion, 
and believing that no evil which afflicts our 
country is at all comparable to the use of ardent 
spirits as a hindrance to religion, he responded 
to all calls compatible with his duties as pastor 
of a flock, and labored with earnestness and 
zeal in behalf of the temperance cause. 



'Results effected. 48S 

Another phenomenal revolution against King 
Alcohol was consummated in the beautiful village 
of Rochester, Illinois. There the work was 
inaugurated hy Messrs. Fairchild, Bischoff, 
Ohmen and Goodell. The result was the signing 
of the pledge loj three hundred and twenty-four 
citizens at the conclusion of the first evening's 
service. In three days the town was unani- 
mously pledged to total abstinence. A local 
correspondent thus pictures the effects: "Roches- 
ter boasts of being the banner temperance town 
of Central Illinois. To-day there are more happy 
and contented homes in this vicinity than ever 
before. Everything is lovely and the good cause 
goes on." 

Queen City, Schuyler County, Missouri, is a 
small railroad town on the Iowa branch of the 
St. Louis, Kansas City and Northern Railway. 
During the evening of December 24th, 1877, there 
arrived in that place Rev. Mr. Greene and Profes- 
sors Smith and Bernard, of the State Normal 
School at Kirks ville. The object of their coming 
was the management of the Murphy movement 
there. The church was thronged, able and effec- 
tive addresses were delivered and the result was 
one hundred names were attached to the pledges. 
Queen City was a place where much liquor was 
drank. Three days were sufficient to enroll its 

inhabitants as members of the temperance army. 
Maquoketa, Iowa, a thriving vilhige of some 

three thousand inhabitants, was surprised and 



484 SOME phe:n'omenal 

captured by the temperance men early in Janu- 
ary, 1878. The reform forces were led by Col. 
Rowell and Mr. J. Hoofstitler, both reformed 
drunkards from Sterling, Illinois, and converts of 
the great Murphy. Since their reformation they 
have been lecturing in the cause of temperance. 
They went to Maquoketa, January 8th, 1878, and 
caused the greatest excitement in moral and 
temperance reform ever known in that place. 
Over fifteen hundred signed the pledge and assum- 
ed the blue ribbon badge to indicate their resolu- 
tion to crush the demon Alcohol out of that place. 
Over four hundred men — including nearly all of 
the business men — organized a temperance club 
with the motto, "We mean business" — and busi- 
ness men were just the ones to make that motto 
win. Charity and assistance to the weak were 
among the resolutions. The societies called 
upon society in general to discountenance young 
and old men who either engaged in the objec- 
tionable business, or patronized the custom in 
any manner : thus the curse of intemperance died 
its natural death in that place. Society resolved 
to make it a disgrace to any one to be known as 
a user of it as a beverage, or who aided or abet- 
ted its use in a direct or indirect manner, in 
order that men might liot be led to it so easily 
from motives of self-interest. 

Over twelve hundred men assembled in Harris' 
Opera House on January 10th, which was the 
largest assemblage of men at one time ever 



RESULTS EFFEC^El). 485 

known to have taken place in Maquoketa. The 
saloon-keepers looked *'way down in the 
mouth" and expressed a desire to sell out. 

Messrs. Rowell and Hoofstittler expressed 
sympathy for the saloon-keepers and won even 
their good will while ruining their business. 
The success of these two men became a subject 
of remark over the whole of Eastern Iowa. The 
work which they inaugurated in Maquoketa con- 
tinued with unabated interest, even after the de- 
parture of the leaders. Most of the saloons were 
compelled to close for want of patronage. . 

And such results as those recorded concerning 
Maquoketa were achieved in a hundred other 
places in Iowa, and indeed such scenes were 
witnessed in nearly all the towns, villages and 
small cities throughout the northwest. 

The Washingtonian movement originated in 
Baltimore thirty-six j^ears ago. From that time 
to the present there have been temperance socie- 
ties in existence there. Sometimes the work has 
lagged, but in December, 1877, the temperance 
wave rolling over the country struck Baltimore, 
and a series of monster meetings were held in 
various parts of that city. 

On the 16th of December, the large hall of the 
Maryland Institute was tilled by an audience of 
men and women, every seat being occupied. This 
hall is capable of seating 1,800 persons. The 
spirit of the meeting can best be described in the 
language of a reporter for the Baltimore Sun : 



486 SOME MEtfOMENAL 

Andrew J. Bowen presided. Messrs. William 
Daniel, C. S. Mosher, R. T. Smith, A. A. Krantz, 
A. A. Townsend and other well-known temper- 
perance men were on the platform. Several gent- 
lemen went amongst the audience getting signa- 
tures to a petition to the grand jury, courts, police 
board, sheriff and all public officials who have 
any control over the " Sunday liquor law, '^ asking 
for its " rigid enforcement. " It was generally 
signed by the men. 

Mr. Bowen read a letter from Hon. Hiram Price, 
member of Congress from Iowa, stating that Gen. 
Butler and himself could not attend the meeting, 
but that he would come another time. 
Remarks were made by H. J. Hay ward, of Wash- 
ington ; Rev. I. J. Spencer, of the Paca Street 
Christian Church; Rev. J. S. Green, arepresenta- 
tive of the Western Christian Advocate^ and C. 
W. ^ye, son of ex-Senator Nye. Messrs. Hay- 
ward and Nye are reformed men. 

Rev. Mr. Green referred to the early movements 
for temperance fifty years ago. He belonged to an 
organization when a boy at Rochester, N. Y., 
which exacted a pledge from its members not to 
drink rum, whisky, gin or brandy except on the 
4tli of July, any militia muster day and at sheep- 
shearing time. [Laughter.] There was no res- 
triction at all on wine or beer drinking. There 
was a great deal of persecution of members of the 
society. Filth was smeared on their newly paint- 
ed houses and mud thrown at the members, their 
cattle were maimed, their iruit trees destroyed, 
and other annoyances inflicted. But nothing 
makes a cause grow like persecution. He was 
delighted to see on his way to church in Balti- 
more that there was not a liquor saloon open yes- 
terday (Sunday.) [Applause.] In his city (Cin- 



RESULTS EFrECTEB. 487 

cinnati) there are 3,000 drinking places open 
every day. There is no Sunday law there, no 
license law, no local option, no prohibition. 

Mr. Bowen. — In Maryland, thank God, there 
are five local option counties, and there are going 
to be more. [Applause.] 

The same day Temperance Temple was crowd- 
ed. The same paper thus speaks of that meeting : 

C. E. Baird presided. Addresses were made 
by Dr. J. A. Mullen, Alpheus A. Townsend, C. 
W. Nye and H. J. Hayward. A number of boys 
from the Boys' Home, with Miss Ida Dale at the 
organ, sang temperance songs in excellent style. 
Mr. Nye said his father, when dying, although 
bereft of reason, mentioned his name with his 
latest breath. The speaker related incidents in 
his own career at Washington while a hard drink- 
er, wandering about the streets with boon com-, 
panions and sleeping on soft planks and in the 
city squares. He said W. S. Bergen, who was 
hanged at Mount Yernon, Ohio, on the 7th instant, 
for murdering a tavern keeper, was formerly a 
government clerk in Washington, where he was 
the speaker's room-mate. His terrible fate was 
traceable to drink. The Governor sent a tele- 
gram intended to stop the execution fifteen min- 
utes after it was all over. There is at this time, 
he said, in the workhouse in Washington, a young 
man, a zebra, as those who wear the striped dress 
are called, who is the son of a former attorney- 
general of the United States. He called working 
men who drink liquor, trustees of therumsellers, 
to whom they transfer their wages every Aveek, 
while their families suffer. He appealed to such 
men to sign the pledge and take it home to their 
wives as a Christmas present. It was not sign- 



488 SOME PHENOMEITAL 

ing away any liberty, but merely fixing the name 
and date when they decide to again become men, 
clothed in their right minds. 

Mr. Nye said a man who knew him in his old 
habits recently met his little boy on the street. 
Jimmy, the lad, told the man his father was 
preaching now. He said he was not afraid of 
him, as formerly, but runs to meet him. Jimmy 
also told the man that Pat Mulligan, the police- 
man, didn't run his father in any more. Mr. Nye 
said he would devote the rest of his life to wiping 
out the furrows on the face of his faithful wife, 
every one of which was put there by his love 
for strong drink. 

Meetings were held at Hollins Hall, High 
Street Baptist Church, Leadenhall Street Colored 
Baptist Church and in other churches, and nearly 
all were largely attended. 

At Albany, New York, in the winter of 1877-8, 
there was a most astonishing uprising. The 
meetings were conducted by Francis Murphy, 
himself, aided by a large number of capable and 
earnest advocates. The largest halls in the city 
were nightly thronged by vast audiences. Some- 
times six or eight meetings would be in progress 
at the same time, all addressed by able, warm- 
hearted workers. The results astonished all 
classes. The metropolitan press of New York 
and Boston, which had been quietly ignoring th6 
temperance movement, or at most sneering at 
the work, were utterly confounded by the events 
at Albany. The work went on, day after day 
and week after week. When there was a sum- 
ming up of the results accomplished, toward the 



EESULTS EFFECTED. 489 

close of January, 1878, it was ascertained that 70,- 
000 of the inhabitants of Albany and vicinity had 
signed the pledge. The New York Tribune s'po^e 
of Murphy as a remarkable man, and heartily 
commended his methods. The Sun remarked that 
*'It appears as if Bro. Murphy is really revolu- 
tionizing public opinion in the northeast. It is 
difficult to account for his wonderful success. 
People may say that men sign the pledge 
through excitement. But the difficulty is not 
removed. We may inquire, how is such an ex- 
citement created? It must be conceded that Bro. 
Murphy is a man of remarkable natural gifts." 
Some of the papers, however, deprecated the 
success of the movement. The pledge takers 
would not remain firm, and it would have the 
effect of creating a laxity of morals concerning 
the sanctity of solemn obligations, oaths, and so 
forth. But the phenomena were still unex- 
plained, why so many thousands of educated 
people were taking the pledge. And these won- 
derful upheavals of the popular will against 
the evils of intemperance were taking place 
every day, in thousands of localities all over this 
broad land. The thing was a marvel and a won- 
der in the eyes of men. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

THE EED AND BLUE EIBBOI^ CLUBS OE THE WEST. 

The tide of reform swept westward in 1874. 
Francis Murphy came to Chicago during that 
year, and entered into the work in connection 
with the Women's Christian Temperance Union. 
After lending them material aid, Mr. Murphy 
was called to the city of Freeport, Illinois. There 
the women were engaged in a great conflict with 
the enemy of homes. The adverse influences 
were very strong in that place and Mr. Murphy's 
presence was of great importance at that crisis 
of the contest. With his accustomed earnest- 
ness and persuasive powers he at once entered 
upon the campaign. The result was a wonderful 
awakening. The city of Freeport had never 
been so agitated before. In a short time the 
temperance sentiment had so developed that two 
large clubs were organized. This may be re- 
garded as the beginning of the temperance re- 
form club movement in the west. A Blue Rib- 
bon Club was organized a few weeks afterwards 
in Sterling. That club has sent out several of 
the most efBlcient temperance workers in the 



CLUBS or THE WEST 491 

west. Among these may be mentioned Col. 
Rowell and Mr. Jacob Hoofstittler. From tbence 
the Blue Ribbon Clubs went abroad. The move- 
ment grew and extended into other towns and 
cities in Illinois, and then missionaries went into 
Iowa, and preached the gospel of temperance in 
that state. Everywhere he went the spirit of the 
people was kindled into enthusiasm in behalf of 
temperance. Clubs were organized everywhere, 
throughout a large section of the two states of 
Illinois and Iowa. The Murphy movement be- 
came a popular appellation of the temperance 
cause throughout the west. The Blue Ribbon 
Leagues, as they began to be called in 1877, had 
became as numerous as church congregations 
before the close of that year. 

Then Dr. Henry A. Reynolds, of Bangor, 
Maine, came west on a similar mission, and the 
Red Ribbon Club movement was inaugurated in 
many of the more important towns of Indiana, 
Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas, Kentucky and 
Arkansas. 

It is impossible in the limits of this volume 
to give even a summary account of all the strik- 
ing events in the history of the temperance 
movement which swept over the country between 
the vears 1873 and 1878 with the force of a moral 
cyclone. In the west this mighty current of 
thought and conviction became practically irre- 
sistible toward the close of the year 1877. To 
enumerate the towns in which tremendous moral 



492 THE BED AND BLUE EIBBON 

victories were won, would be to go tlirougli the 
post office directory and write down the name of 
every post-town, village and city in several of 
the western states. If there were any places 
entirely free from the temperance agitation they 
have not been reported. 

Here and there have been witnessed outcrop- 
pings of a spirit among professed Christians, 
and religious teachers even, which were matters 
for profound regret. Bishop Coxe, for instance* 
who, by the way, is a believer in abstinence only 
when a man cannot be temperate in his drinking 
habit, was quite shocked at the idea of reformed 
drunkards becoming "public teachers of pro- 
priety." In speaking of these temperance lec- 
turers he employed the following language : 

''But above all, we cannot subject ourselves 
for an instant to their despotic laws as to meas- 
ures, or their narrow views of the whole subject 
of moral obligation, and their frequent denials 
of man's infirmity and the need of divine grace. 
Nor can we submit to see many other forms of 
iniquity and profligacy winked at or condoned, 
provided only a man will pledge himself to total 
abstinence. Nor can we send our children to 
listen to the reformed drunkard, as if his return 
to decency — often, alas ! so momentary — were a 
sufficient qualification for a public teacher of 
propriety and virtue. Too often this class of 
public speakers ''glory in their shame," and 
magnify their abstinence by details of their for- 



CLUBS OF THE WEST. 493 

mer degradation. Sucli are not the men and 
measures we can countenance ; but so much the 
more in our wa}^, let us teach temperance as the 
duty of all, and abstinence as the duty of all 
who cannot be temperate, and in general the 
duty of those who need neither stimulant nor 
tonic." 

The Danville, Illinois, Commercial^ a secular 
newspaper, noted the coldness and indifference 
manifested by the leading church people there, 
and expressed regret on account of the fact in 
the following words : 

^'To the progress of a cause urged in a spirit 
like this, not even the liquor-seller or maker can 
interpose an objection. It deserves the respect, 
sympathy and active assistance of every good 
man and woman. It has not taken so deep a hold 
upon the Christian and moral people of Danville 
and surrounding country as it has in most other 
places, and for that reason the good done here, 
though very great, is not so great as it ought to 
have been with the amount of labor that has 
been expended. We believe every man, woman, 
boy and girl who believes in temperance either 
in theory or practice, whether his or her church 
is a temperance society or not, should take hold 
of this movement and make the most of it — give 
it their hearty cooperation and support." 

At a town out in Kansas this jealousy of the 
church members was most prominently and of- 
fensively manifested. It was at a temperance 



494 THE EED AND BLUE KIBBON 

meeting held at Louisburg. Several prominent 
citizens, all church members, and one among them 
a deacon, rose in the meeting and declared they 
were moderate drinkets, and tried every art of 
persuasion to induce those who had signed the 
pledge to renounce it, and take off the blue rib- 
bon badge and put on the badge of Christ by a 
profession of faith. They maintained that the 
church of Christ embraced all, and that it was all 
the pledge any one needed. Mr. Jesse W. Wil- 
liams, who is a warm advocate of the cause of 
temperance and of the Murphy plan, ably argued 
the point with these singular Christians. And 
why should they not be combated? They said 
that because they were only moderate drinkers 
and members of the church, that they were no 
enemies of the cause of temperance ; and that 
they did not need to reform or sign any addition- 
al pledge. But it was held that it was the moder- 
ate drinker that makes the drunkard. They 
professed to have such an impregnable fortress 
of firmness in their minds that they could with- 
stand any attack of the enemy, both open and 
secret. Perhaps one out of a hundred might 
succeed. But then what immense, what irrepar- 
able mischief might that one cause ? He invites 
others to drink who lack the firmness of which he 
so confidently boasts, l^ay, he insists that his 
neighbor shall take a glass with him, only one 
single, harmless, friendly glass, when that neigh- 
bor has taken one glass too many already. He 




DR. HENRY A. REYNOLDS. 



CLDBS OF THE WEST. 49'^ 

estimates tlie firmness of others by his own ; and 
thongh he may stand safe and unscathed, yet how 
many through him may be helped to glide into 
the pool of degradation and wretchedness. Such 
a one is the greatest obstacle, the greatest stum- 
bling block to the complete success of the tem- 
perance reformation. He boasts of stability, and 
all who govern their actions by his will not be 
underrated, for it is not in human nature to stand 
depreciation in mind and intellect. If he can be 
firm, why not they ? They are men like unto him- 
self, and it is as much their pleasure and glory to 
boast of firmness as it is his, and the example he 
holds up to them is followed to their complete 
overthrow. If the moderate drinker is a man of 
business, he holds forth an example to his clerks 
and apprentices to sip of the deadly draught ; if 
a father, he is but a model for his children; for 
how natural it is for children to imitate their par- 
ents ; if a man of high standing in society, those 
who look to him for a pattern of morals, copy his 
vices also, and in whatever position he may be, it 
is all the same — there will be persons who copy 
from him to their sorrow. 

In Osage county, Missouri, at a church house 
called Providence, a person professing to be a 
Christian teacher, came, Bible in hand, to de- 
nounce the Murphy movement. This man ob- 
jected to it, not because the principle was wrong, 
but because it robbed the church of the honor 
which belonged to it. Temperance was all right, 



498 THE EEB ANB BLUE EIBBON 

"but "Murphyism," as lie called ifc, was all wrong, 
and no Christian shonld belong to a Murphy 
league. The churches have had the whole field 
for years, and did not cultivate it; there has gone 
forth no cry to warn the people who were becom- 
ing more and more demoralized by the use of 
alcoholic liquors. 

Another very significant fact, and one much 
to be deplored, was the strange silence of the 
religious press on this momentous subject. Num- 
ber after number of some of our religious jour- 
nals appeared, while the movement was sweep- 
ing all before it in the west, without a single 
mention — even in the summary of current news — 
of the great agitation, which had profoundly ex- 
cited the public mind, and challenged the atten- 
tion of all classes and professions. And these 
same papers had column upon column of discus- 
sion in regard to the meaning of a Greek prep- 
osition, or the significance of certain forms of 
speech used by men who died 1800 years ago. 
There was at least the semblance of an excuse 
for the indifference of Christian people to th< 
efforts of the Washingtonians, inasmuch as thej 
divorced their endeavors altogether from i 
recognition of a Divine Helper, and refused t( 
join in religious exercises of any character. Bu 
such an objection did not exist against the Gos 
pel Temperance movement. *'By the help o 
God, dare to do right," the very battle cry witl 
which they went into the conflict, is the ver^ 



CLUBS M^ THE WEST. 499 

essence of Evangelical faith. And yet learned 
doctors of divinity employ their profound and 
ponderous learning in rearranging facts, argu- 
ments and deductions formulated in the first ages 
of Christianity. They are engaged in mixing 
up their venerable cut straw soul pabulum, while 
God's chosen instruments are going about over 
the hills and by the rivers, feeding the multi- 
tudes with fresh loaves and fishes. So Christ 
went about while the learned doctors of the San- 
hedrim sat in Jerusalem pondering over the wis- 
dom of the Talmud, and expending their energies 
of mind in solving the mysteries of the Cabala. 

It was scarcely to be expected that the Chris- 
tian teachers of our times would manifest so lit- 
tle interest in a movement to remove what they 
almost universally agree in calling the "greatest 
hindrance to the successful propagation of the 
gospel." Yet it certainly seems that from the 
leading ministers, this cause of temperance, in 
the very hour of greatest need of recognition from 
them, received no consideration. But, so it has 
been, and so it will continue to be until the end 
of time. If the great have not taken up the 
work, others have; if the learned and philoso- 
phical minds shrink from the rude shock of such 
a conflict, God's power can call such as will go 
forward. Philosophers never sow or reap the 
harvest of progress; they have their appropriate 
task in garnering the grain — the product of agi- 
tation. In this world, 
16 



500 THE RED ANt> BLUE RIBSOK 

•'Some find work where some find rest, 

And 80 the weary world goes on; 
W© sometimes wonder which is best? 

The answer comes when life is gone. 

Some wills faint where some wills fight — 
Some love the tent — and some the field; 

We often wonder who is right — 
The ones who strive — or thos« who yield. 

Some feet halt where some feet tread 

In tireless march a thorny way; 
Some struggle on where some have led 

Some see — when others shun the fray. 

Some hands fold when other hands 

Are lifted bravely in the strife; 
\nd so thro' ages and thro' lands 

Move on the two extremes of life." 

The cause was "holy and God guided his 
servants aright. Ministers and people, in a 
thousand places in the west, came forward nobly, 
earnestly, truly enthusiastic, to participate in 
the dano;ers and share the labors of the con- 
test. Perhaps it was well that those who were 
known and honored, who stood among the great 
ones of earth, did not go out into the battle. It 
was God's work, and he chose the weak and the 
unlearned, to overcome the strong and confound 
the wise. To some 

''The cross is heavy in their human measure, 
The way too narrow for iheir inward pride, 

They cannot lay their intellectual treasure 
At the low footstool of the Crucified.*' 



CLUBS OF THE WEST. . 501 

But such will at last go away into tlieir own 
place. 

After all, what does human learning, genius, 
social position, power or grandeur amount to 
when that majestic Force that rules the universe 
wills changes and revolutions among men ? How 
infinitely feeble the opposition these can make ? 
Grod's will must be done. 

Reform clubs multiplied in every direction. 
ISTeither the indifference of the religious journals, 
the small encouragement given the movement by 
eminent teachers of morals and religion, nor the 
open hostility of a large class of people who 
made no profession of a regard for either religion 
or morality, seemed to exert the least influence 
in staying the progress of the movement and the 
continued enlistments of recruits for the temper- 
ance army. 

Taking up the battle cry, "By the help of God, 
dare to do right," E. H. Campbell and Michael 
Lanagan went to Belleville, St. Clair county, 
Illinois, to see what could be accomplished there. 
Certainly the prospects were dark enough. 
Belleville was noted for its free thought and for 
its free beer and free whisky proclivities. Belle- 
ville has a large population of Germans, and 
these are generally opposed to the doctrine of 
total abstinence. When Campbell and Lanagan 
first appeared in Belleville their presence excited 
little apprehension, and the work they came to 
do was <iuietly ignored. But it was not long be- 



502 THE EED AND BLUE RIBBON 

fore the efforts of the temperance evangelists "be- 
gan to have effect. People signed the pledge in 
large numbers, and their meetings were mighty 
throngs. Then the anti-temperance and liquor 
interests became aroused. Something must be 
done. If this temperance movement went on, 
the large number of venders who had engaged 
in the business to s apply the demand which a 
population of some 12,000 or 15,000 persons 
would naturally make for "something to drink," 
would be compelled to suspend. Taking counsel 
together, the collective' wisdom of that element 
in Belleville arrived at the sage conclusion that 
a public meeting and a series of resolutions 
would in all probability arrest the tidal wave of 
temperance principles. So once, if Lord Broug- 
ham is to be credited. Dame Partington, armed 
with her broom, thought to sweep back the bil- 
lows of the Atlantic. 

The wise men of Belleville issued a call for the 
meeting. That proclamation was a curious one. 
It was published in the newspapers, and distrib- 
uted in hand-bills through the city. It read as 
follows : 

All those believing that the so-called temper- 
ance movement which is now being carried on at 
Turner Hall, in this city, and which is in truth 
and reality a mov^ement in favor of total absti- 
nence and not of temperance, is wrong and detri- 
mental to the moral and material interests of the 
community, and who believe that the doctrines 
proclaimed at said total abstinence movement 



CLuisS OF THE WEST. 503 

are an insult to those who can and do control 
their appetites and are truly temperate, are invi- 
ted to take part in a grand mass-meeting to be 
held Sunday, January 27th, 1878, at 2 o'clock 
p. M., for the purpose of protesting against said 
total abstinence movement. 

This notice had the effect of calling together a 
large number of tlie moderate drinkers and im- 
moderate topers of Belleville and vicinity on 
Sunday evening. There were some politicians 
around watching carefully the turn of events. 
They were not quite certain of the ability of the 
free-thinking, free-drinking portion of the com.- 
munity to issue a mandate against the total ab- 
stinence wave which would be effectual in rolling 
it back, hence were remarkably mild in expres- 
sion of sentiments of a condemning character. 
After due consideration, the committee on reso- 
lutions reported the following deprecatory ex- 
pressions concerning the movement: 

1. That we consider the moderate use of wine, 
beer and cider neither inj iirious to the body or 
mind. 

2. That we deprecate the excessive use of al- 
coholic drink of any kind by any one, and that 
the efforts now being made to reform hard drink- 
ers and drunkards are commendable and should 
receive the approval of all good citizBus. 

3. That we condemn and consider criminal the 
system of enticing children who are not old 
enough to judge for themselves to subscribe to a 
solemn pledge of total abstinence whilst the 
chances are equal as to tlieir keeping or violating 
the same as they grow older. 



504 THE EED AND BLUE EIBBOIT 

4. That teachers in our public schools should 
not make it a business to teach total abstinence 
to their pupils. 

5. That we will use all lawful means to prevent 
the establishing of " prohibitory laws" in our 
city, county or state, statistics having proven 
that prohibitory laws rather tend to increase than 
diminish drunkenness. 

6. That we consider the present temperance 
laws so offensive and unjust, and principally that 
clause which makes the owner of the property in 
which a saloon is kept liable for the acts of the 
saloon-keeper, that we will use all lawful 
means to repeal or modify that law. 

This pronunciamento was unanimoi^sly agreed 
to as an expression of the views, purposes and 
fears of that meeting. It will strike the reader 
as a very peculiar document, to say the least of 
it. Such a declaration of principles with slight 
amendments might have been accepted by that 
ancient organization known to history as the 
^' Temperate Society of Moreau and JSTorthumber- 
land." People were led to wonder what these 
gentlemen who proposed to revolutionize a revo- 
lution were driving at. They declared in their 
call that the temperance movement was not a 
temperance movement, but a total abstinence 
movement, wrong and detrimental to the moral 
and material interests of the community, and an 
insult to those who can and do control their ap- 
petites, while in the resolutions adopted by that 
meeting, they approved of all efforts made to 
reform hard drinkers and drunkards. 



CLUBS OF THE WEST. 505 

The principal object of the temperance move- 
ment was and is to reform drinkers and drunk- 
ards, and to prevent others from "becoming "hard 
drinkers and drunkards." Did these gentlemen 
ever know a "hard drinker or drunkard" who 
had not once been a moderate drinlier ? They 
acknowledged "the excessive use of alcoholic 
drinks of any kind" to be an evil, a great evil, 
the greatest evil that curses our country; they 
declared "that all efforts to stay that evil were 
commendable and should receive the approval of 
all good citizens." Did the collective wisdom of 
all of Belleville's anti-teetotalism know of any 
better way to reform drunkards, or to prevent 
others from becoming drunkards, than to abstain 
from the use of tha.t which makes drunkards ? 
If it did, it declined to enlighten a waiting 
world. They acknpwledged that the excessive 
use of alcoholic drinks was detrimental to the 
public at large. Why then claim that total ab- 
stinence is an evil to be resolved against ? 

One of the resolutions adopted at that meeting 
declared that they condemned and considered 
criminal the system of enticing children who were 
not old enough to judge for themselves to sub- 
scribe to a solemn pledge of total abstinence, 
whilst the chances were equal as to their keeping 
or violating the same as they grew older. How 
tender Belleville's anti- teetotalers were of the 
rising generation ! How fearful that they might 
hereafter violate that " solemn pledge, " and with 



506 ' THE BED AND BLUE EIBBOK 

what prescience they decided that the chances 
were equal as to their keeping or violating the 
same as they grew older ! Was it not a pity that 
this collection of Belleville's philanthropists, who 
were so solicitous for the welfare of youths, could 
not find time to condemn the enticing of the young 
to places where they are in danger of becoming 
'' hard drinkers and drunkards ! " The fact was, 
these gentlemen were in distress for a grievance. 
Parents who did not wish their children to pledge 
themselves could very easily keep them away 
from those meetings. If they signed without the 
authority and against the consent of parents, 
those wise gentlemen knew that the pledge was 
not legally binding, and they certainly could not 
consider a pledge, which the infants were " entic- 
ed into signing, " as morally binding. We imag- 
ine, however, that the number of parents who 
would object to their children taking this pledge 
is by no means large. 

Such in substance, was the argument hurled at 
the Belleville reactionaries by the editor of the 
Nashville, Illinois, Journal^ who was a staunch 
advocate of the total abstinence cause. 

One thing the Belleville meeting did, showed 
that they were either uninformed or reckless in 
statements. Assertions are easily made. The 
declaration that statistics prove that "prohibi- 
tory laws rather tend to increase than diminish 
drunkenness," is not true. Statistics prove the 
contrary. There are less drunkenness, fewer 



CLUBS or THE WEST. 507 

crimes, and lighter taxes in states having pro- 
hibitory statutes, than in those states in which 
the traffic in ardent spirits is comparatively free. 

But the first formal declaration of hostilities 
against the temperance movement in the west 
was nnprod-uctive of results. Campbell and 
Lanagan had built upon a solid foundation. The 
accessions to the temperance organization at 
Belleville were continued. But the spirit of op- 
position increased in bitterness with the lapse of 
time. Mr. Henry A. Kircher, the Mayor of that 
city, who was one of the anti-temperance men 
without reservation, embraced an opportunity 
to distinguish himself in a way that is unenvia- 
ble. A police officer of the city signed the 
pledge, and assumed the badge. The Mayor 
demanded that he should laj it aside and thus 
sever his connection with the temperance organ- 
ization. This the officer declined to do, and the 
Mayor dismissed him. This action of Mayor 
Kircher produced a profound sensation in Belle- 
ville. The temperance people were indignant 
and thus the seeds of bitterness and strife be- 
tween the elements were deeply planted. It was 
the first time in the history of police organiza- 
tions in this country that a policeman received a 
discharge for being a temperance man. 

But the work went on everywhere in the face 
of every obstacle that could be interposed. 

At Ottawa, Kansas, the Murpliy Movement 
met with wQ.ndeiful gucpegs, Tli^ gujbject of the 



508 THE EED AND BLUE EIBBON ' 

coming of Mr. W. S. Reynolds and Mr. R, C. 
Frost liad been fully agitated and public inter- 
est drawn to as liigli a pitch as possible, and the 
masses went to the first two meetings fully pre- 
pared to see the movement a failure. But w^hat 
were the results ? The meetings commenced on a 
Saturday night and 200 signed; Sunday evening 
150 more, and on Monday, 350 more. "When 
Thursday morning came, there w^ere about 1,300. 
All classes and all grades signed. Many ine- 
briates of the worst order were drawm by the 
wonderful influences to sign the little card and 
don the blue ribbon. Sheldon Hall, capable of 
holding 800 to 1,000 people, was filled every 
evening. People came in from the country by 
hundreds, and the children's meetings in the 
afternoons were well attended. There was a thor- 
ough temperance revival in Ottawa. Everybody 
knew it and everybody was eff'ected by it. The 
work was continued at Ottawa for several weeks. 
The end of it all was the complete overthrow of 
the liquor interests in that town, and the com- 
plete, establishment of the temperance refor- 
mation, so far as human agencies could estab- 
lish it. 

One of the means taken to confirm the work, 
when once performed, was the establishment of 
assembly and reading rooms and libraries in 
every place where a club was organized. It w^as 
so in Ottawa: a large hall was secured and fitted 
up in handsome styl© a,s a reading yopm and 



CLtTBS OF Tlt:K WSST. 50S 

library. The citizens were liberal, almost lavish 
in their contributions. 

The Murphy Movement, in the language of a 
writer in the Springfield, lllmois, Register , "swept 
through Auburn, Illinois, like a prairie lire." The 
temperance work lagged there for a time; but 
the ladies got up a.supper^ and thus brought the 
people together. Then the interest commenced. 
The audiences began to grow. In the course of a 
few days no building in the place was large 
enough to seek the congregations. The meet- 
ings were conducted by Mr. Paige. Seven hun- 
dred signed the pledge, and were organized into 
a Blue Ribbon Club during the first week. 

Montana, Kansas, was known as "rather a 
hard place" previous to December, 1877. Then 
the missionaries from a reform club came to 
Montana and commenced their work. Hon. J. 
S. "Waters opened the campaign with a fin^ lec- 
ture. At its conclusion he offered the pledge 
and large numbers signed it. Another meeting 
was called, and when it closed nearly every man 
in Montana was pledged to total abstinence. 
The work at that place was greatly aided by Mr. 
Isaac H. Bechtol and Miss Dovie Livesay. 

About the middle of December, 1877, Dr. 
Kidgeway of Lawrence, Kansas, went to Mount 
Pleasant, a flourishing village in that state, and 
commenced an and- alcohol campaign in that 
place. The eff'orts of Dr. Ridgeway were suc- 
cessful. The movement at that place caused 



510 THE EEB ANf) 35LtTE MSBOI^ 

quite a sensational episode. One night a crowd 
of about 300 persons, consisting of men, women 
and children, went to a store in the town, rolled 
out a barrel of whisky, and burned it, the wife of 
the owner of the whisky knocking in the head of 
the barrel and aiding in the work. 

There seemed to have been a growing impres- 
sion among the older citizens of that locality, 
including the drinkers as well as temperate men, 
that "ardent spirits" were gaining too powerful a 
hold to be consistent with the well being of the 
community. This opinion gained ground from 
the fact that so called moderate drinkers were 
increasing their indulgences, while universal 
demoralization was sweeping youth and young 
men downward on the path of the inebriates, 
making it pretty certain that Mount Pleasant 
was to turn out several first-class drunkards to 
prey upon the morals of the world. 

Among others who viewed the situation with 
dread, was the wife of the man w^ho owmed the 
whisky, she having a family of boys to build up 
or destroy in their morals. Her solicitude in the 
matter had been on the increase, and was farther 
aggravated by the raid of a brigade of boys from 
tjie Irish settlement, who went on a grand moral 
spree, making things peculiarly lively for the 
store-keeper, smashing glass and running things 
generally, the village resounding with their Bac- 
chanalian speeches and howls till 12 o'clock at 
night. 



CLQBS OF THE WEST. 511 

About 10 o'clock at niglit the barrel was rolled 
into the street, and preparations made to burn it. 
It was voted by the crowd that the store-keeper's 
wife should deal the blow of destruction. One 
who was a witness to that transaction testified 
that it was a hard blow, and well directed. Had 
it been aimed at a raging lion seeking to devour 
her children it could hardly have been more vin- 
dictive. This incident, of course, raised some 
excitement, but all things were peaceable, how- 
ever; and the liquor-trafflc was effectually sup- 
pressed at the town of Mount Pleasant. 

And so the work went on everywhere in the 
west. By the middle of January, 1878, the sign- 
ers of the pledge in five counties in central Illi- 
nois were estimated as follows : 

In Morgan county, 9,627, of which 6,064 were in 
Jacksonville ; Sangamon county, 3,523 ; Cass 
county, 4,528, Scott county, 1,887; Greene 
county, 3,237 — making in total, in five counties, 
of 22,523. The number of wearers of the blue 
ribbon in Jersey county was estimated at 3,000. 

Carefully prepared estimates show that more 
than 175,000 persons had taken the pledge in 
that part of Illinois known as Egypt previous to 
the 15th of January, 1878. In that section of 
Missouri known as the ^'Southeast," where tem- 
perance ideas had never exerted much influence, 
the Murphy revival had astonishing success. 
Some of the most talented citizens in the state 
resided in that section. Many of these, who had 



512 THE HED Al^i) BLUE EIBBON CLtTB^. 

been addicted to tlie use of liquors, l)ecame tem- 
perance men and went to work for the cause. 
Hon. Martin L Clardy, Hon. Lowndes H. Davis, 
Judge William Carter and others became leaders 
in the movement ; and fronton, Cape Girardeau, 
Jackson, Gayoso, Farmington, Fredericktown 
and other places, where in other days the whisky 
trade was flourishing, became centers of influ- 
ence in behalf of the good cause of temperance. 
The ways of the Lord are wonderful. Who can 
know the mind of God ? 



CHAPTER XXX. 

PKOGEESS OF THE GREAT TIDAL WAVE OE EEFORM. 

The Centennial International Temperance Con- 
ference, as we have had occasion to remark, con- 
stituted an important incident in the history of 
the temperance reform. It was the means of 
awakening a profound interest in the subject, 
and it provoked a deeper and wider range of in- 
vestigation. Another important fact in connec- 
tion with that memorable meeting was the con- 
centration and harmonizing of the various classes 
and elements engaged in the work. All temper- 
ance orders and societies, Protestant and Roman 
Catholic, were brought face to face, and the ex- 
change of views between all the leaders of the 
cause could not fail to be productive of good re- 
sults. The facts and statistics collected on that 
occasion have proved invaluable in the further 
prosecution of the war on ardent spirits. The 
public mind was directed to the cause of much of 
the crime and pauperism which afflict the civilized 
world. Students of social science thus became 
interested in the stndy and an impetus was given 
to tbe gene?*)^). current of human thought toiichinjs^ 



514 PEOGKESS or THE GEEAT 

this profoundly interesting social problem — how 
to lessen the liquor traffic, and lower the existing 
high percentage of crime and pauperism. 

On the common platform of temperance prin- 
ciples all could and did meet. The Roman Cath- 
olic Total Abstinence Union could greet their 
brethren of a different faith, and join hands — if 
not in organic unity, yet in a union of sympathy 
and good will for the advancement of a common 
cause. While the Roman Catholic Union erect- 
ed its cold water fountain at one spot in Fair- 
mount Park, and the Sons of Temperance theirs 
in anotherplace, yet on the subject of temperance 
they used the same language of " touch not, taste 
not, handle not " the dreadful agent. 

And from the central point of Union at Phila- 
delphia, the temperance workers went forth to 
the four quarters of the world, reinvigorated, en- 
couraged, strengthened and more fully resolved 
in their purpose to banish the evils of drunken- 
ness at least from the borders of civilized society. 
It would require more space than can now be 
commanded to show the importance of the cur- 
rents of influence which went out from Philadel- 
phia in 1876, and point out their relation to the 
great tidal wave of reform which has swept over 
this country and England, Ireland and Scotland, 
since that year. 

As an evidence of the substantial progress 
made by the temperance reform, the attitude as- 
sumed by politicians toward the movement is 



TIDAL WAVE OF KEFORM. 515 

very significant. The character of American 
political life exerts upon politicians an influence 
adverse to abstemiousness on all who engage in 
politics as a profession. The personal morals of 
the professional politician under most conditions 
must suffer. Hence, we justly conclude that as a 
profession politics is not likely to produce a large 
number of leaders in moral reforms. When, 
therefore, we see legislators and professional 
leaders of political parties showing particular 
interest in the cause of temperance, or any other 
purely moral reform, it may be taken as an un- 
mistakable indication that back of their appar- 
ent zeal there exists a public sentiment which 
men of their profession must consider and respect. 

The legislation on the subject of the liquor 
traffic by various states between the years 1870 
and 1878 is significant, and important as tending 
to show the progress of the underlying princi- 
ples of the temperance reform among the people. 

It is true that in the past there has been no lack 
of legislation on this subject. It is not proposed 
to discuss the results of that legislation. There 
have been license laws, restrictive laws and pro- 
hibitory laws on the statute books of some of 
the states for nearly a quarter of a century. 
These laws have not suppressed the vice of 
drunkenness, but careful examination into the 
working of the restrictive and prohibitory laws 
shows that under their operation intemperance 
has been greatly diminished. The Maine law 



516 PEOGRESS OF THE GREAT 

has not been a failure, nor has the Vermont law 
proved ineffectual. Of western and southern 
states, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Tennessee and 
Mississippi were among the first to enact laws 
rendering the prosecution of liquor selling rather 
a precarious business. 

The constitution of Ohio, adopted in 1857 by a 
majority of 8,984 votes out of a total vote of 
215,494 ballots, prohibited the legislature from 
passing any laws granting a license for the sale 
of intoxicatiug liquors. Severely restrictive laws 
were passed by the legislature, which remained 
in force until April, 1870, when what is called 
the Adair law was passed, amending the old act 
and making the law still more stringent. 

The provisions of this law, which was in force 
in 1878, are very strict. "Every husband, wife, 
child, parent, or employer, or other person in- 
jured in person, property or means of support, 
by any intoxicated person, or in consequence of 
the intoxication, habitual or otherwise, of any 
person — such wife, child, parent, guardian, em- 
ployer or other person, shall have a right of ac- 
tion in his or her own name, severally or jointly, 
against any persons who shall, by selling or 
giving intoxicating liquors, have caused the in- 
toxication, in whole or in partj of such person or 
persons." 

The owner of, or lessee, or person renting or 
leasing the building with a knowledge of the 
purposes for w^hich it is to be used— that is foi 



*IBAL WAVE OF EEFOEM. 51f 

the sale tlierein of intoxicating liquors^or after 
having knowledge of the fact that liquors are 
sold or given away therein, though it was rented 
or leased for other purposes — ^such owner or 
lessee is jointly liable with the person selling or 
giving away the liquors which caused the dam- 
age, and may be proceeded against for the actual 
and exemplary damages. Married women have a 
right to bring suits, contest them and receive the 
damages awarded as femme sole. Damages re- 
covered by a minor, under the- law shall be paid 
to said minor, his or her parent, or guardian, or 
next friend, as the court may^direct. The law de- 
clares that for all fines, costs or damages assessed 
against any person for selling or giving away li- 
quors contrary to law, all property of the person 
or persons against whom judgment is entered 
shall be held liable. No exemptions of either real 
estate or personal property are provided for in 
the act. The judgment of the court shall be a 
lien upon all property to-the amount of damages, 
fines and costs entered against such person or 
persons. In case the house, or premises, in or on 
which the intoxicating liquors causing the dam- 
age shall be sold, be the property of a minor, 
idiot, insane, or other incapable person, then the 
guardians of such legally incapable persons 
shall be held liable to the ward for the amount 
of damages, fines and costs assessed against the 
property in consequence of the illegal sale of 
intoxicating liquors. 



518 pRoaiiEss of thu great 

The sale or giving away of intoxicating 
liquors to persons intoxicated, or who are in the 
habit of becoming intoxicated, or to persons 
under the age of twenty-one years, except by a 
physician in his regular practice, is absolutely 
prohibited. Severe penalties are denounced 
against violators of the law in this respect. 

The ''Baxter law," of Indiana, is a severely 
restrictive license law. 'No one may sell or give 
away liquors in that state without ^rst having 
obtained a permit from the Board of County 
Commissioners. This Board is forbidden to 
grant license to any one without such applicants 
having filed with the County Auditor a petition 
signed by the applicant and a majority of the 
legal voters of the ward or township in which it 
is proposed to establish such dram-shop. Be- 
fore the permit is granted the applicant must 
file a bond in the sum of $3,000, with two sureties, 
each of whom must be seized and possessed of 
not less than three thousand dollars' worth of 
real property free from incumberance. The prin- 
cipal and sureties are each and severally held 
liable for any damages which may result from the 
sale of intoxicating liquors. Separate suits may 
be brought against the principal and his bonds- 
men by the person or persons injured by the 
sale or giving away of liquors, but the whole 
amount of damages recovered shall not exceed 
three thousand dollars. In case the bond shall 
become exhausted by suite thereon, a new bond 



TIDAL WAVi: Ol^ BEFOBM. 519 

must be made. The majority of the votes is 
declared to be the majority of the voters casting 
ballots at the last preceeding congressional or 
municipal election. Any person not a legal 
voter who shall sign such petition shall be fined 
not less than $50 nor more than $100. 

A copy of the order of the Commissioner must 
be posted up in a conspicuous place in the room 
in which the liquors are sold. A failure to com- 
ply with this requirement works a forfeiture of 
the permit. It is unlawful to sell or give liq- 
uors to minors or persons in the habit of getting 
intoxicated. Places where liquors are sold con- 
trary to the provisions of the law are declared 
public nuisances, and must be closed. The saloon 
keeper who sold the liquor is made liable for the 
cost of caring for any intoxicated person. The 
law declares that it is unlawful for any one to 
become intoxicated, and requires all persons con- 
victed of being intoxicated to designate the per- 
son from whom he purchased or otherwise receiv- 
ed the liquor. The sale of intoxicating liquors 
is prohibited on Sunday, on Election days, on 
Christmas, on Thanksgiving day, on the Fourth 
of July, and on any public holiday. All saloons 
must be closed at 9 o'clock, p. m., and not opened 
again before 6 o'clock in the morning. Bartering 
or giving away liquors shall be deemed the same 
as selling. 

Section 12 of the "Baxter law" is almost a copy 
of the *'Adair law" of Ohio, given above, provid- 



520 PROGRESS OF TfiE GREAT 

ing for "biinging suits against saloon-keepers, 
"by husbands, wives, parents, children, guard- 
ians and other persons injured. The next section 
provides that in case a person, who has no family 
or next of kin, or near friend to be injured, be- 
comes intoxicaied, the Trustee of the township 
shall institute suit, and the sum recovered from 
the saloon-keeper and his sureties shall go to 
the fund for the benefit of the poor of the ward 
or township. All persons are forbidden 'to buy 
for, or give any intoxicating liquors to any one 
in the habit of becoming intoxicated. It is not 
necessary to prove the kind of liquor drank, in 
prosecutions for violations of this law. 

The Illinois law is possibly still more restric- 
tive* Saloon-keepers have to give bond in the 
penal sum of $3,000, and both principal and 
sureties are jointly and severally liable. In ad- 
dition the owner or lessor or renter of property 
is made pecuniarily liable. The property in 
which the liquor was sold is held liable for any 
damages which the courts may adjudge to have 
been sustained in consequence of the sale of 
liquor therein. The liquor trading interest 
bitterly contested the legality and constitution- 
ality of the act. But a decision of the supreme 
court in January, 1878, sustained the law. 

In Virginia the "Moffet law" provides for the 
registration of all drinks sold, and requires the 
saloon-keeper to provide a peculiar apparatus, 
known as the *'bell punch." The state collects 




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TIDAL WAVE OF KEFOEM. 523 

a tax on every drink sold. The revenue from 
this sonrce during the year 1877 was rather more 
than half a million of dollars. The law is other- 
wise more restrictive in character than previous 
acts on that subject in Virginia. 

In the Maryland Legislature, in the early part 
'of January, 1878, a stringent local option bill 
was introduced, and the temperance people were 
aroused to the importance of restrictive legisla- 
tion and engaged warmly in urging the passage 
of the bill into a law. 

Perhaps the influence of the great tidal wave 
of the temperance reformation was nowhere more 
sensibly felt than in the Commonwealth of Ken- 
tucky, the state in which from time immemorial 
the manufacture of whisky has been carried on 
as one of the leading industries of the people. 
But the temperance sentiment has been ex- 
panding in that state and now perhaps a majori- 
ty of the citizens of Kentucky are enlisted in the 
cause. 

Early in January, 1878, Mr. Cooke, of Louis- 
ville, introduced a bill in the House of Represent- 
atives of Kentuckj^, hedging the business with 
legal restrictions. After a heated contest the 
bill passed on the 22nd of Januar}^, 1878. This 
law declares, ''That it shall not be lawful for any 
person having a license to sell spirituous, vinous, 
or malt liquors b}^ the drink; to sell, give, or loan 
any of such liquors, or the mixture of either, 
Jiuowingly, to any j)erson who is an inebriate, or 



524 PROGRESS OF THE GREAT 

in the habit of becoming intoxicated or drunk 
by the use of such liquors, or to suffer or permit 
such person to drink such liquors, or the mixture 
of either, in his bar-room, saloon, or in or upon 
any tenement or premises in his possession or 
under his control. Any one so offending shall 
be subject to a fine of fifty dollars for each of- 
fense, to be recovered by indictment of a grand 
jury in any court of competent jurisdiction, or 
by warrant before die county judge or a justice 
of the peace of the county in which the offense 
was committed; and the person so found guilty 
shall also be deemed as having forfeited his 
license, and the court before which the trial is 
had shall so adjudge. 

In addition to the fine, the person -who shall 
violate any of the provisions of the act, shall, 
together with the sureties on his bond, be liable 
to a civil action for damages by the wife, or the 
father, or the mother, or the child of such inebri- 
ate or person so in the habit of becoming intoxi- 
cated or drunk, in which punitive damages may 
be assessed." 

This is a great step in advance for the old 
Commonwealth of Kentucky to take. It shows 
the extent of the great evolution against intem- 
perance and drunkenness. 

In Iowa, the laws are prohibitory in character, 
and in 1878, in a case in the Supreme Court of 
that state it was decided that ^'potations of 
ardent spirits were sufficient to discjualify a juror, 



TIDAL WAVE OF REFORM. 525 

inasmucli as a man under the influence of alco- 
holic liquors was incapable of deliberately and 
maturely considering the evidence before him." 
An effort on the part of the temperance people 
was made early in the year 1878, to still further 
hamper the traffic by additional legislation. The 
liquor trading people also made efforts, unsuc- 
cessfully however, to repeal the law and substi- 
tute a license system. 

The liquor law of Missouri is much more strict 
than is generally believed, even among the peo- 
ple of that state. It is a reproach upon the char- 
acter of the citizens, that the laws on this sub- 
ject have not been hitherto more thoroughly 
enforced. The Missouri liquor law declares : 

^'Any person having a license as a dramshop 
keeper, who shall keep open such dramshop, or 
shall sell, give away, or otherwise dispose of, or 
suffer the same to be done upon or about his 
premises, any intoxicating liquors, in any 
quantity, on the first day of the week, common- 
ly called Sunday, shall, upon conviction there- 
of, in addition to the penalty now provided by 
law, forfeit such license, and shall not again be 
allowed to obtain a license to keep a dramshop 
for the term of two years next thereafter. 

"iV^o county court shall grant a license to any 
person as a dramshop keeper whose license as 
such keeper has once been revoked; or who has 
ever been convicted of a violation of any of the 
provisions of this chapter; or who, at the time 



526 PROGEESS OF THE GEEAT 

of Ms application for sucIl license, may he 
shown to have sold, given away, or otherwise 
disposed of intoxicating liquors to any minor 
without the permission or consent herein re- 
quired; or who has had in his employ in his 
business of dramshop keeping, any person 
whose license has been revoked, or wlio has 
been convicted as above mentioned, or who has 
sold, given away, or otherwise disposed of in- 
toxicating liquors, as above mentioned." 

No attempt has been made to enforce these 
statutory provisions. In St. Louis, Kansas City, 
Moberly, St. Joseph and other large centers of 
population the law is wholly disregarded. 
Early in the month of January, 1878, the Temper- 
ance Society of New York, in special conference 
resolved to memoralize Congress for a commission 
to make careful and comprehensive inquiries 
about the liquor traffic and its social, physical 
and political effects, and also requested Christian 
journalists, ministers and physicians to lend their 
support to the undertaking. New York was 
greatly agitated during the winter of 1877-8, by 
the efforts made by the religious and temperance 
people to have the liquor laws of that state en- 
forced. The Rev. Dr. Howard Crosby, Chancelor 
of Columbia University, took an active part in the 
movement, for which he met with censure from 
some of the newspapers, and was severely lectur- 
ed by Recorder Hackett, who stigmatized that 
eminent scholar and divine as a " whipper in of 



TIDAL WAVE OF KErORM. 527 

morality. " But the law was enforced as it had 
never been before. For this statement we 
have the authority of the New York Times, which 
printed an editorial in which occurred the follow- 
ing language : 

The efforts that have been made in recent years 
to secure the enforcement of the Sunday law have 
always been regarded in the light of an official 
joke. The police saw men come and go where it 
was plain enough there to all the senses that liq- 
uors were consumed, and yet they stood by and 
did not raise a linger. If strong drinks were sold 
or bought yesterday, " to be drunk on the premi- 
ses, " they were procured with a degree of re- 
search and a sense of danger of personal incon- 
venience that made the occupation adventurous. 
The number of callers at side doors was small, 
and the number of side doors that were locked 
was very large. The streets were so free from 
drunken men that the fact was commented upon 
by the street car conductors and drivers, who 
have excellent opportunities for observing the 
eftect of easy liquor selling on Sunday. The re- 
cords of the Police Courts told the story of the 
crisis in a very interesting manner. In the place 
of the usual throng of men and women who came 
before the police magistrates, there were arraign- 
ed hundreds of liquor dealers, who had persisted 
in selling on imperfect licenses, or in selling 
liquor stronger than that "set down in the bond." 
The viirilance of the police was increased rather 
than relaxed, every officer being warned that the 
burden of responsibility la}^ upon his shoulders 
to carry out instructions from head-quarters to 
the letter, 



528 PKOGRESS OF THE GREAT 

"When ISTeal Dow, the Maine apostle of prohilbi- 
tion, declared several years ago that he hoped to 
work the public mind up to that pitch of opposi- 
tion to dram- selling, that hanging for the first of- 
fense would be regarded as a suitable, if not 
moderate, penalty, everybody laughed at him, and 
the major portion of the community doubted his 
earnestness. He has been giving abundant proof, 
however, that he was in earnest ; and, though he 
has not yet succeeded in aJBTecting the public mind 
to the extent of his hopes, his latest move shows 
that he does not yet despair, but means to con- 
tinue his efforts. He introduced a felony bill in 
the Maine Legislature, in January, 1878, which is 
a long stride in advance of any step which has 
ever been taken lieretofore in prohibition. Under 
the provisions of this bill the first offense of sel- 
ling intoxicating liquor is to be punished by a 
fine of $200 and six months' imprisonment at hard 
labor. For the second offense the term of im- 
prisonment is a year. IN'o liquor is to be brought 
into the State, even for private persons. People 
are to be held responsible for liquor found on 
their premises, and the burden of proof as to 
ownership rests on them. Apparatus for selling 
liquor found is to be deemed evidence of guilt. 
If a team is found drawing liquor, the horses and 
vehicle are to be confiscated. Common drunkards 
are to be sent to jail for a year, but released on 
conviction of the seller. Drummers for liquor hous- 
es are to be fined $1,000 and imprisoned for a year. 



TIJ)AL WAVE OF KEFOEM. 529 

, Thus tlie popular agitation goes on and public 
sentiment is taking a new direction in regard to 
the liquor traffic. The advocates of restriction 
and license have much to say in regard to what 
they deem to be the mistaken policy of the New 
England states which ha^'. adopted the prohibi- 
tory policy. But it is a fact of some significance 
that those states evince no disposition to return 
to the license system. That affords something 
of an argument in favor of tlie policy. It seems 
that an intelligent people would surely not 
persist in pursuing a line of policy which worked 
evil to the whole community. The inhabitants 
of those states are certainly in a position to 
judge of the effects of those laws, and, therefore, 
when we see them continuing to favor such a 
course of legislation it affords presumptive evi- 
dence that they regard the policy as the best 
they can carry out for the interest of all classes 
of the community. 

Such, in brief, is an account of late legislation 
in relation to the liquor traffic. It is a question 
among the total abstinence people of this coun- 
try whether legislation can be made effective in 
diminishing the evils of intemperance and drunk- 
enness. There is quite a division in sentiment 
on this question. It is very certain that extreme 
legislation, unsupported by the popular senti- 
ment, can have little effect in suppressing or 
even checking the liquor trade. Laws not en- 
forced had best not exist in statute books. The 



530 PEOGEESS OF THE GEEAT 

"Adair Law," of Ohio, is efficient and valuable 
whenever enforced. In the large cities, like Cin- 
cinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and some 
other places, the Jaws are notoriously dis- 
regarded and no efforts are ever made to en- 
force them. In the waller cities, villages and 
country districts, where the weight of public 
opinion favors the law, a large number of con- 
victions have been had under it, and many men 
addicted to drink have been restrained from be- 
coming intoxicated through the fears of saloon- 
keepers, who dared not assume the risk of a 
prosecution for a violation of the law by selling 
them liquor. 

So even the mild laws of the state of Missouri 
have never been enforced in the larger cities like 
St. Louis, Kansas City and St. Joseph. Hence a 
large number of the active temperance people of 
the states are decidedly averse to putting laws 
on the statute books which will never be en- 
forced. On the other hand, there is among 
thoughtful men a certain conviction of a sort of 
necessity for political action. As an evidence of 
this, the following language employed in an edi- 
torial article in the Chicago Tribune may be 
cited. That journal, one of the most influential 
newspapers in the country, says of the temper- 
ance movement: "No radical change has ever 
taken place, no great reform has ever been 
brought about, only as it has been agitated by 
the people, and the public mind been educated 



TIBAL WAVE OF REI^ORM. 531 

in the direction of sucli change and reform, and 
brought to a higher standard. Shall we see a 
nation claiming to be God's children, here to do 
His will, sit supinely down until our enemy has 
bound US hand and foot? Shall ours become a 
nation of drunkards, or shall we put on the 
brakes before the whole country is plunged into 
this rushing river of rum? Must the rum-seller 
be allowed to go on forever, ruining the young 
and slaying the old? Must this evil continue to 
devour the hearts of women and the souls of 
men ? 

"There was an end to slavery and there will 
be an end to rum. But there are chains heavier 
and stronger than slavery ever bore. The chains 
of the rum-seller must be broken from the soul of 
his victims. The temperance question must and 
'mill come to the front. The party which gets on 
the right side of it will yet sway the nation's 
destinies, for God is on that side. He is a major- 
ity, and majorities rule. One or the other of the 
existing parties may take this side, but if neither 
does, both are doomed. 

" Neither the old Whig nor Democratic party 
would strike for the freedom of the slave. One 
was shattered to the winds, the other crushed, 
while the conscience of both went into a new 
party. God will raise up a party to sweep in- 
temperance from the land. That party is com- 
ing on. Already hundreds of thousands have 

joined that party of the future, which says that 
17 



532 PROGRESS OF THE GREAT 

rum-making, rum-selling, and rum-drinking are 
crimes against human liberty and national in- 
tegrity." 

This is strong language from such a source. 
Another secular journal remarks : ''We are made 
to fear and tremble when we come to consider 
that God is just, and as a nation we will be 
severely chastised for this national sin, unless 
we speedily repent, and purge our nation from 
the disgraceful record or- act of legalizing by au- 
thority of law the accursed traffic in alcoholic 
beverages. We find recorded in the 2d chapter 
ofHabakkuk and the 16th verse: 'Woe unto 
him that giveth his neighbor drink, that put- 
teth the bottle to him, and maketh him drunk 
also.' 

'• The licensing of men therefore to put the 'bot- 
tle' to their neighbors' mouths is a sin. Being a 
sin it cannot be legalized except by a sinful law. 

"It is never right to do that which is wrong. It 
is never expedient to do wrong. A government 
that establishes iniquity by law digs its own 
grave." 

So the tidal wave of temperance sentiment 
rolled on all over the land, sweeping away all 
obstacles. Yet, judicious minds recognized the 
painful fact that there must necessarily come a 
reaction, and that many would fall away, and 
return to the habits which degraded them. The 
chains of slavery to the rum-drinking habit are 
not so easily broken. And with this rea(!tion in 



TIDAL WAVE OF RErOBM. 583 

the condition of the masses of the people, and 
their disposition toward the movement, many of 
those summer advocates will abandon the de- 
fence of the temperance cause. So it has been 
in the past, and in the future the same laws of 
human motives are likely to produce similar 
results. 



17 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE MISSIOIN^ OF CONWAY, BONTICOU, THE CAMP- 
BE'LLS AND OTHEES. 

Perhaps the strangest phenomenon in the his- 
tory of human affairs, is the fact that men of 
renown in ordinary times, never become leaders 
in times of great agitation. The moral, social, 
political and theological conflicts which have 
preceded every great, progressive movement 
of the YSioe, have been almost uniformly inaugu- 
rated and consummated under the leadership of 
men before unknown to fame. It was not one of 
the learned rabbis of the Sanhedrim who was 
charged with the mission of proclaiming glad 
tidings of salvation to a lost world, but the re- 
puted son of a carpenter, Jesus of Nazareth. It 
was not a mighty sheikh, or learned scribe of 
Arabia, who was called to overthrow the gross 
idolatry of his race, and teach them to reverence 
the one God, the ruler in heaven and on earth, 
but a merchants clerk, the camel driver Mahom- 
ed. There were many able generals, or at least 
supposed to be great leaders of armies, in the 
time of Charles I; but it was none of the lords, 



THE CAMPBELLS AND OTHEES. 535 

m 

or dukes, or princes that were called upon to 
resist the encroachment of tyranny, and vindi- 
cate the liberties of the English people, but Crom- 
well, an obscure man of Huntington. It was not 
one of the Prince-Bishops, nor yet the learned 
Doctors of the Sarbonne, nor the profound Eras- 
mus, nor any member of the Sacred College of 
Cardinals, who were destined to shake the very 
foundations of society and lead human thought 
from under the gloomy coverts of mediaeval 
dogmas, but the street singing peasant boy of 
Eisleben, the Angus tinian monk of Wittenburg, 
Martin Luther. There were many princes and 
generals of venerable lineage in Italy; but it 
was the plebeian leader of Caprera, Garibaldi, 
who overthrew the despotism of the King of the 
Two Sicilies, captured* Naples and made Vic- 
tor Emanuel the first king of United Italy. It 
was the Marats, the Robespierres, the Dantons, 
the Desmoulins, who overthrew the ancient feud- 
al order of France, and emancipated the people 
from a dreadful system — "though it cost oceans 
of blood and rivers of tears." It was the once 
poor bo}^, Adolphe Thiers, who had struggled up 
to become at last the savior of his country, when 
cast down by a foreign foe and torn to fragments 
by domestic madness. And in our own histor3% 
there were manj^ men of national reputation as 
leaders of armies, but it was the obscure Grant 
who achieved victory and won imperishable 
laurels. 



536 THE missiojST of COIS'WAY, boistticou, 

And so of all tlie acliievements of the liuman 
race in the march of progress ; the conflicts, the 
rude shock of mind against mind, in great popu- 
lar agitations, have been led, not by hesitating, 
thoughtful, philosophical minds, but by men of 
convictions rather than reflection, of action in- 
stead of deliberation ; by men who had felt 
rather than thought, realized in their own ex- 
perience rather than considered the experience of 
others and deduced therefrom the reasons why 
such conditions existed. 

And this phenomenon has been particularly 
apparent in the course of the great temperance 
agitation in the United States. The leaders have 
come up with the occasion. Francis Murphy, 
Dr. Henry A. Reynolds, John W. Drew, Profes- 
sor Bontecou, Dr. Conway, A. B. Campbell, 
Jacob Hoofstittler, E. H. Campbell, Mr. Hay ward. 
Colonel RoTv^ell, Dr. J. E. Tliompson, Mr. Heisler, 
Mr. McCuUough and a number of others who 
could be named, were but a few years ago un- 
known. The name of Francis Murphy has gone 
abroad over the entire English speaking countries 
of the world. His fame has become almost uni- 
versal. In the west, E. H. Campbell, Dr. Convvay, 
Professor Bonticou, Rev. Father O'Halloran, A. 
B. Campbell, Will. J. Knott and Mr. Heisler are 
perhaps the best known leaders, except Murphy 
and Reynolds themselves. 

The missions of these men have been blessed 
beyond all precedents in the annals of propa- 



THE CAMPBELLS AIs^D OTHERS. 537 

ganda. Everywhere they have been met Iby vast 
audiences; in all places they have succeeded in 
enlisting the attention of the people and have 
induced many thousands to turn away from the 
evil path of intemperance to take the road of 
honor and usefulness in the world. It was a 
memorable mission and its success unparalleled. 

Professor J. C. Bontecou, a reformed inebriate, 
a man of talent, tact and earnestness, was one of 
the most successful leaders of the temperance 
revolution. He labored in many places. At 
Keokuk, Iowa, he was very successful in arrest- 
ing the public attention and organizing the tem- 
perance elements into Red Ribbon Clubs. 

At St. Joseph, Missouri, lie labored for a num- 
ber of days. The meetings were extraordinary, 
the success remarkable. Night after night there 
were crowded halls, and altogether more than 
5,500 names were enrolled in the ranks of the 
total abstinence army. The St. Joseph Gazette 
speaks of one of his talks which sustains what 
has been previously asserted concerning the 
lukewarmness of " certain of the people of God." 
It says : " There is a class of people, some of 
whom were present, that he gave a good hacking 
— those professed Christians who will not come 
forward and lend a helping hand, but who would 
rather hide under the cloak of their church 
relationship and social standing in society. 
' Get out of your shell,' said he, ' and come for- 
ward and say, I know something of this good 



538 THE MISSIOI^ OF OOI^WAY, BOISTTICOU, 

canse, and the evil effects, and will aid all I 



can.' " 



From St. Joseph, Professor Bontecon went to 
the citj of Quincy, Illinois. He commenced his 
work there in the large hall of the old court 
house. The second of the series of meetings 
held under his direction in that place is thus re- 
ported by the Quincy Daily Herald : 

An audience commenced to assemble before 7 
o'clock, and half an hour later the room was 
packed and the entrance blocked. Although the 
large majority of those inside had to stand up, 
nearly all remained until the close. Mr..,Bonte- 
cou commenced his address at 7:30, and occupied 
about an hour, devoting a portion of his remarks 
to his own experience. He stated among other 
things, that he had an appetite for stimulants 
when a boy, and was drunk when quite young. 
He told where he tasted his first glass of whisky, 
how he became a drinker at college and left the 
institution before graduating, although lie stood 
among the first in scholarship ; how he studied 
law and continued his drinking; that he went 
into the army and rose to a position, but was 60 
addicted to drink that he resigned and again 
enlisted in the ranks. He gave his history up to 
some time after the close of the war. when he 
commenced his wanderings. The four black 
years of his life followed, an account of which 
he deferred until the next meeting. 

He then spoke at some length upon the habit 
of drinking and upon the causes of intemperance. 
He thought that the social customs of the rich 
and educated classes were to a large degree re- 
sponsible for drunkenness. The influence of 



THE CAMPBELLS AKB OTHEES. 539 

yoting men in position, only moderate drinkers, 
causes more intemperance than the saloon keep- 
ers. He then addressed the working men and 
argued that the v, more than others, are interested 
intemperance. When people spend their money 
for food or clothing, furniture or other neces- 
saries, about 25 cents out of every dollar goes 
into the pocket of the workingman. For every 
dollar spent for liquors of any kind only about 1 
cent and nine mills goes to the v^orkingman. 
The mechanic and the laborer cannot afford drink- 
ing. The stimulant does them harm, unfits them 
for v^ork. and if persisted in finally carries them 
to ihe bottom of the hill. His speech was inter- 
spersed with anecdotes well told which amused 
the audience. Mr. Bontecou is a pleasing 
speaker and all who heard him seemed to be 
interested. 

At the close of that evening's meeting 117 
names were enrolled among the total abstinence 
forces. The hail was found to be too small for 
the immense audiences which assembled to hear 
him. The Opera House was secured. The third 
evening's meeting was an immense outpouring, 
such as had not been witnessed before in Quincy. 
A large number was enrolled. And so at night 
immense audiences assembled and men fore- 
swore the use of liquor. In two weeks upwards 
of six thousand had pledged themselves with 
God's help to abstain from the use of intoxi- 
cating drinks. 

In Evansville, Indiana, we find the same suc- 
cess attended the labors of this leader of men. 
His work at Evansville has been thus described : 



540 THE MISSION or CONWAY, BONTICOU, 

" The advent of eighteen hundred and seventy- 
eight found the good people of the Crescent city 
*'all tore up," to use a homely but expressive 
phrase, upon the subject of temperance. As 
long ago as June, 1877, Professor J. C. Bontecou, 
the well known temperance organizer of Jack- 
son, Michigan, made his appearance at Evans- 
ville, and began a series of temperance revival 
meetings under the most discouraging circum- 
stances. At the beginning his meetings were 
attended by a very few persons, and these 
mainly the old recognized temperance advocates. 
But few signers to the pledge were obtained, for 
Mr. Bontecou persisted in confining the initiatory 
of his work to the class of men who stood in 
need of reformation. His appeals were directed 
to drinking men. Of recognized temperance men 
he asked only an active sympathy and per- 
sonal encouragement, but he distinctly gave 
them to understand that the}^ were not to " lead 
off ^' in the movement — in a word he proposed to 
inaugurate a new departure. Finally it worked 
like a charm." 

The work so auspiciously begun during the 
summer of 1877 was not permitted to flag. The 
zeal was kept up with astonishing effect. After 
the departure of Mr. Bontecou from that city. Col. 
Whittlesey resumed his residence there, and 
assisted the Evansville club in extending the 
area of its^abors into all the surrounding towns 
and settlements. Everywhere this work was a 



THE CAMPBELLS AI^I) OTHEES. 541 

success. FlourisMng organizations were estalb- 
lislied in the adjacent counties, and the friends 
of temperance soon numbered thousands of men 
who six months before were classed as steady 
drinkers, and many who were confirmed inebri- 
ates. 

The temperance meetings in the city of Evans- 
ville were kept up with great regularity. A 
large hall was fitted up in the central part of the 
city, which was open day and night to the pub- 
lic. Regular temperance meetings were held on 
Thursday and Sunday nights, invariably with 
crowded houses. On Saturday night a business 
meeting was held. The ladies had a separate 
organization for business purposes, and met on 
Saturday afternoon. The president of their so- 
ciety in 1878, was Mrs. Charles Urie, a charming 
and talented lady, a fine speaker, a good scholar, 
a zealous laborer and a true Christian. Her so- 
ciety was an invaluable attachment and aid to 
the Red Ribbon organization. 

Dr. James H. Conway of New York, has been 
an exceedingly successful temperance worker in 
the west. At Hannibal and Louisiana, at Mexi- 
co and Troy, Missouri, and in many other places, 
the voice of this earnest laborer in the field has 
been heard with deep interest by all. 

At Hannibal, the people were at first some- 
what surprised that Dr. Conway was apparently 
so young a man. He is described as no more 
than thirty years, with a good physique and 



542 THE missions: of co^^way, bonticou, 

prepossessing presence. Like many others in 
the new movement, Dr. Conway was once addic- 
ted to strong drink. The work at once commenced 
at Hannibal. The temperance movement con- 
tinned with increased excitement and deeper in- 
terest for weeks. Every class, caste and condi- 
tion of society were taking a hand in the work, 
and Brittingham Hall was nightly tilled to its ut- 
most capacity. At nights the hall was crowded 
notwithstanding the inclemency of the weather, 
and the best series of meetings were had while 
storms raged without. Most of those in attend- 
ance were men on these terrible, dark, stormy 
evenings. 

People rushed to Brittingham Hall, the larg- 
est assembly room in Hannibal, long before 
the hours appointed for the meeting, even stand- 
ing room being at a premium. And so the v/ork 
went on, day after day and week after week. 
Dr. Conway addressed nearly every meeting. 
He always spoke of the manner of treating the 
drinkers who had signed the pledge, so as to as- 
sist them to stand. He also took occasion to en- 
dorse the letter of a lady correspondent and 
"shook up" the Christians in a gentle manner. 
"He plead with all who had not signed to 
take a stand at once, and during the singing 
which always followed a grand rush was made 
and a large number took the pledge." Such 
scenes were of nightly occurrence. 

The result of Dr. Conway's labors at Hanni- 



THE jOAMPBELLS AND OTHEES. 643 

Ibal was the enrollment of nearly 5,000 persons in 
the grand army of temperance. 

The success attending his efforts at Louisiana, 
Missouri, was scarcely less gratifying. In a 
campaign of about two weeks about 2,000 per- 
sons signed the pledge at that place. 

From Louisiana, Dr. Conway moved upon the 
whisky interests of Mexico, Missouri. This 
place, containing a population of between 5,000 
and 6,000 inhabitants, furnished nearly 3,000 re- 
cruits in a very short time. And so the cause 
went on gaining adherents in every hamlet. 
^E. H. Campbell has gained a wide reputation 
as an able and earnest temperance worker. His 
method is to appeal to the reason of his hearers. 
He is at all times deeply in earnest. There is no 
flippancy either in the manner or matter of his 
addresses. At Charleston, Winchester, Carlin- 
ville, Collinsville, Edwardsville, Nashville and 
other places in Illinois, and at Kirkwood, Mis- 
souri, his labors were abundantly blessed. Leb- 
anon, Edwardsville, Jerseyville, Carrollton and 
"Whitehall, in Illinois, especially were carried 
by storm. In these different centers the aggre- 
gate number of signers of the pledge exceeded 
14,000. 

As there were so many men engaged in the 
great work of propao-ating temperance principles, 
it is not a matter of surprise that a number of 
persons bearing the same family names should 
be in the field at the same time. Mr. A. B. Camp- 



544 THE Missio:N' or coitwat. Bo:N'Ticotr, 

bell was a successful laborer in the cause in many 
of the towns of Southern Illinois. He was the 
means of thousands forswearing the intoxicating 
draught. 

Professor J. R. Heislev labored with great zeal 
and astonishing success at Anna, Du Quoin, Tam- 
aroa, Ashley, Yandalia, Pinckneyville, Chester 
and other places in Southern Illinois. In these 
various places more than 1,200 persons enrolled 
themselves as members of the grand army of to- 
tal abstainers. 

Michael Murphy, a reformed man, and like his 
illustrious name-sake, Francis Murphy, an Irislj- 
man, did noble service among the drinkers of 
Shelby, Macon, Edgar, Douglas and other coun- 
ties in Central Illinois. This Murphy is also an 
effective speaker, a man of splendid natural gifts, 
and always gained the closest attention of his 
audience. 

Hon. Lee H. Seaton of Keokuk, Iowa, was 
another evangelist whose labors were rewarded 
by a success astonishing even to him.self. In 
three evenings in the town of Farmington, Iowa, 
six hundred were enrolled in the Royal Purple 
Club, which he organized at that place. 

John A. Wall of Pinckneyville and Hon. M. J. 
Inscore of Anna, and Col. R. R. Towne of Jones- 
boro, Illinois, the two latter reformed men, were 
able and efficient workers during the campaign. 

Hon. Lowndes H. Davis, of Jackson, Cape Gir- 
ardeau County, Missouri, threw the weight of his 



THE CAMPBELLS AND OTHEES. 545 

influence, and gave the power of Ms well culti- 
vated intellect to the cause in that part of the 
state. He labored with zeal and success, and not 
a few will thank him in the future for the position 
he took in the memorable conflict. 

Hon. Will J. Knott, of Chahiois, took the lead 
and attacked that stronghold of the liquor 
interest, Jefi*erson City. In this work he was 
assisted by Tennie Mathews, Esq. Meeting with 
good success at the state capital he went on to 
California, Missouri, and there his labors were 
abundantly successful. Mr. Knott is one of the 
ablest and best known of the temperance evange- 
lists of the state. 

But it would be impossible to enumerate all 
the places where great meetings were held, and 
where able advocates of temperance were at 
work. 

At the same moment that E,ev. Father O'Hallo- 
ran was addressing a great temperance meeting in 
the Methodist church at Staunton, Illinois, Hon. 
Mr. Gowan was at Rantoul, E. H. Campbell at 
Carlyle, J. R. Heisley at Chester, Mr, Timmony, 
of Pittsburg, at Pittsfield, Dr. Henry A. Rey- 
nolds was leading the forces at Alton, Col. 
Towne was at Duquoin, Mr. Echols was at Cairo, 
Professor Bontecou was at Quincy ; and in Mis- 
souri Dr. Conway was at Hannibal, Hon. S. H. 
Sherlock was speaking at Steelville, and Hon. 
"Will. J. Knott was at the state rapital combating 
the evils of. strong drink. The same evening the 



646 THE MISSION OF CONWAY, BONTlCOtJ, EfO. 

niimlDer of the enrolled at Davenport, Iowa, was 
told off, and it was found tliat 2,600 had enlisted 
in the total abstinence host. In a hundred other 
places in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and 
Kansas immense meetings were being held, and 
the people were stirred up with a zeal for the 
cause. While Kelso was at the same time bat- 
tling against great odds at O'Fallon, Illinois, 
with its 1.200 inhabitants and fourteen whisky 
shops, earnest men were preaching the same gos- 
pel of temperance at Joplin and Carthage, Mis- 
souri, and at Fort Scotfc, Parsons, Chetopa, Tope- 
ka, Emporia, Burlington and other places in 
Kansas. 

Such was the mission of Conway, Bontecou, 
the Campbells and others in the west. Amission 
of love and faith, of earnestness and zeal, which 
agitated the whole great region as it had never 
been before. It was a wonderful display of the 
aroused moral sensibilities of the people. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

SCEISTES AND II^CIDENTS OF THE CAMPAIGN. 

The reform movement so ably conducted by 
Francis Murphy and Dr. Henry A. Reynolds, 
aided by a great host of zealous workers, differs 
from all other efforts to advance the temperance 
cause in some essential respects. " With charity 
for all and malice toward none " inscribed on 
their banners, the ''Ribbon Bands," as they 
have been called, have gone forth to the combat. 
There has been no abuse heaped upon liquor- 
sellers — the reform clubs making war only on 
liquor-selling — the traffic, not the persons engaged 
in it. 

Some of the scenes witnessed and incidents 
which have occurred were truly comical, while 
others were as deeply pathetic. 

The reader can form some idea of the character 
of the work in which the Ribbon men are en- 
gaged by a relation of incidents connected with 
the campaign. 

While Dr. Reynolds was visiting Quincy, Illi- 
nois, kindling the fix^es of enthusiasm in the re- 



548 SCEIS'ES AND rN'CIDENTS 

form movement in NovemlDer, 1877, an incident 
occurred worthy of record. 

Passing down the street one afternoon, Dr. 
Reynolds heard some one calling — " I say. Mister ! 
Here ! " The Doctor turned in the direction 
whence the sound came. " Yes ! you I am talk- 
ing to ! " he called across the street. "I want to 
see you," the man said and walked towards him 
with a staggering gait. 

The Doctor stopped of course. The man came 
np. It was evident he had been drinking heavily. 

^' Well, friend, what can 1 do for you," said the 
Doctor in a sympathizing tone." 

*'Be you the temperance spouter?" 

" Well, I talk on temperance sometimes. What 
can I do for you ? " 

" Well, I guess there haint anything you can 
do for me. Don't you see my coat and pants and 
decayed cow-skin shoes — I'm a tramp — a bum- 
mer — 1 am, and nobody cares for me, an' I don't 
care anyhow." 

'' You've been drinking," said the Doctor. 

" Certain. Is't any j^our business ? Can't a 
bummer tramp have a drink ? Do I b'long to 
you, that you should interfer' with my rights ? " 

" Oh, no ! my friend. But you were not always 
a tramp. You have occupied a higher station in 
life than you now do. Wouldn't you like to be 
a man again ? " 

''You bet, I've seen better days. But — well, no 
matter — we can't call back. ^Taint wnat a man 



OF THE CAMPAIGIT. 549 

would like to do, but wliat a man can do. But 
to go back and begin life over again is one of 
the tilings that can't be did. Don't you know 
that ? " 

''Oh, but you can mend your ways, at any 
rate. Quit drink and try. JN'ow won't you?" 
said the doctor in a persuasive tone. 

''Ha ! ha ! " laughed the man. "This idea of old 
Tom-the-Toper-Tramp mendin' his ways and 
quitting his toddies, when he can get 'em. You 
must be a fresh un in these parts. But I want to 
see you and talk with you anyhow, 'cause they 
say 3^ou're the High-muck-a-muck of them tem- 
perance spouters." 

"My friend," said the doctor, "You ought to 
do better by yourself than you are doing now. 
Just now you said no one cared for you. That is 
not true. I care for you because once I was a 
slave to drink as you are now. I can sympathize 
with you. I do feel for you, and I do pray that 
you may be a better man — or rather that you 
will be yourself, the man that you were and are 
when the drink is not in you. Oh, but if j^ou 
could but just dash the poison cup to earth — just 
rise to the majesty of manhood ! For that I will 
pray, anyhow. Will you come to see me ? " 

The wretched man — poor "Old Tom-the-Toper- 
Tramp," as he called himself — listened to the low 
pleading of the doctor, heard him declare his 
sympathy, and felt as he had not felt for ^^ears. 
Thought travels rapidly. Away back through 



550 SCENES AITD INCIDENTS 

the pathway of the years he heheld a beautiful 
home, and there arose before him the vision of a 
lovely woman and handsome boys and girls 
about her — and all the joys of such a home and 
the wealth of love within it once was his — once 
belonged to "Old Tom-the-Toper-Tramp." A 
mist rose before his eyes as the doctor con- 
cluded. The deep fountains of the soul were 
stirred, and the hard features relaxed and great 
drops slowly rolled down the bronzed cheeks of 
the unhappy man as he grasped the doctor's 
hand, exclaiming, "I will, I will ! " 

And he did go, and told all his sad story to 
Dr. Reynolds. Then he solemnly engaged to 
touch the fatal cup no more. Within three 
weeks, decently clad and in his right mind, 
"Old Tom-the-Toper-Tramp" knocked at the 
door of a lovely country home and was received 
with gladness. There was joy in heaven. 

Sometimes the reformers have a combat with 
old prejudices the outgrowth of long continued! 
habits. A case presents itself to us now, which 
illustrates the persistence of inherited ideas, and 
the charitable and smooth manner in which the 
cause of the Ribbon Temperance Reform is 
sought to be advanced. 

There was a great temperance reform meet* 
ing in one of the public halls in the city of 
Dubuque, Iowa. A good time was anticipated, 
and the reformers were not disappointed. A 
stirring speech had been made by Hon. A. Bickel 



OF THE CAMPAIGI^. 551 

of Des Moines, and no little entliusiasm had been 
evoked. Enthusiastic reform songs were sung 
and the hearts of the workers in the temperance 
cause were lifted up. It was a glorious season. 

Captain Curtis, an enthusiastic advocate of 
the Ribbon Movement, then came upon the plat- 
form and commenced an address, in which the 
delights and joys of the home of the temperate 
were contrasted with the wretchedness and mis- 
ery of the drunkard's dreary abode. The audi- 
ence had began to feel a deep interest in the fine 
delineations of the speaker. 

Suddenly a middle aged man, of medium 
stature, with a florid complexion and j^ellow hair 
and beard, rose from his seat and began to ad- 
dress the audience in a most animated style. 

The people did not appreciate the interruption, 
and loud and angrj^ cries of " Put him out ! " 
*'Stop him!" "Throw him down!" etc., rang out 
all over the hall. But the speaker, Captain Cur- 
tis, retained his composure, and with some 
effort restored a degree of quiet which enabled 
him to expostulate with his audience. 

"Now my friends," he said, let us hear what 
the gentleman has to say. This is but right. I, 
for one, would like very much to hear him, and 
I do hope that he may be permitted to speak 
wich perfect freedom." 

This appeal had the desired effect. The gen- 
tleman then in an excited and earnest manner 



552 SCEKES Aj^i) mcii)E:N-TS 

proceeded witTi Ms remarks, mnch to tlie amnse- 
merit of the audience. 

His speech was something like this: "Ihafe 
leef in dees down for dwendy-dree year. Efery 
pody what knows me. knows dat I got fine, nice 
shildren. I can drink my vine, vhisky nnd peer 
und I can gwit wen I vant. Dese fellas, dey 
don't can gwit midont a bledge. I don't hafe got 
to sign some Wedges. I hafe raise some good 
shildren. [Great applanse and cries of ''Louder"]. 
I hafe raise dwo of the best shildren you efer 
knew." The speaker's voice was here drowned 
by a storm of applause and he sat down and put 
his hat on. 

Capt. Curtis then politely said in substance, 
that he did not blame people for differing from 
him in opinion. He knew the man who had just 
spoken was honest in expressing his sentiments. 
He knew his friend there was a gentleman. (Here 
the anti-temperance man took off his hat.) After 
a few more remarks from Mr. Curtis and a story 
from Mr. Blckel, the pledge was circulated and 
received about a hundred new signatures. 

And so the work went on in Dubuque, and 
among those reported as having joined the band 
of reformers, was the German gentleman, a res- 
pectable citizen of Dubuque, who had "two of 
the best children 3^ou ever knew. " 

In a town in Southern Hlinois, which contained 
a population of about 400, and supported five 
saloons, " the Murphy movement " was eminent- 



OF THE CAMPAiaif . 653 

ly successful. At first it was thouglit little could 

loe done. Mr. M , an old citizen, and the 

wealthiest man in the place, had made his money 
lyy selling liquor to ruin his neighbors. He 
threatened that he would head the populace and 
drive out any Murphyites that might come along. 

One evening, just when the temperance people 
had assembled in the little church to ask God's 
blessing on the mission which they were about 
to undertake, an old man might have been seen 

approaching Mr. M 's place of business. He 

walked uprightly and was decently clothed, and 
better than all, he was in possession of all his 
faculties — a thing unusual with him for years. 
He was perfectly sober now. 

He entered Mr. M 's place, not as he had' 

entered it a thousand times before, but with an 
earnest purpose to expostulate with his neighbor 
and friend, whose vile liquors had almost ruined 
him. 

Instead of going directly to the bar as was his 

custom in former times, he sought Mr. M in 

his private office. 

That gentleman was sitting near a window, 
with a cigar in his mouth, gazing out over the 
hills in the blue distance. The enti-ance of the 
new comer caused him to turn around. He per- 
ceived in his presence his old friend and neigh- 
bor, perfectly sober and neatly attired. He had 
not seen him so appear for years. 

He rose, extended his hand with great cordial- 



554 SCENES ANB INCIDENTS 

ity as lie exclaimed, " Why, my dear William, 
where have you been ? I haven't seen you for a 
month. Where have you been ? " 

The greeting was returned with great civility, 
but without enthusiasm. 

Mr. M saw the changed manner of his vis- 
itor at a glance, and thinking to rally him a little, 
he remarked, " Why, William, you are as solemn 
as a clergyman ? " 

''I suppose I have cause to be sober in man- 
ner," he replied. " You ask me where I have 

been. I have been up to C , and I bless God 

that I went. I shall never take another dram, 

M ! " he said emphatically. " And I have 

come to talk to you in a serious manner upon a 
most important matter." 

And he drew his chair close up to Mr. M , 

and commenced in a serious, and even solemn 
manner, an expostulation with his old friend. He 
was in a position to use great freedom, for he had 

aided Mr. M when he commenced business 

in the town. 

For more than an hour he talked — talked as if 
the salvation of his soul depended upon the re- 
sult. He argued, then plead, and at the end of 
that time he got his answer. 

" I will do it, William. Yes, for the sake of 
my neighbors and for my own sake I will do it." 

" Will you come up to the church now with me?" 

" No. But I will drop around soon." 

*' God bless you, Mr. M ," the old man said 



OF THE CAMPAIGN. 555 

fervently ; and he took his solitary way to the 
village church. 

When he arrived there he found the friends of 
reform engaged in an earnest discussion of the 
great question to them, " What can be done for 

U ? " The old man was known to them all. He 

made his way to the platform within the altar 
rails. At the conclusion of the remarks of some 
one, he rose and said solemnly : 

"Praise God, oh my soul! And all that is 
within me rejoice! The ways of God are justi- 
fied to man. M will never sell another drop 

of liquor ! Ah, there he comes ! Let him speak !^' 

And every one in the house, both men and 
women, rose up, and amid cries and amens, Mr. 
M advanced to the altar. 

With some embarrassment he proceeded to 
speak of the visit of his old friend and neighbor, 
of the irresistible appeal which he had made, of 
the effect upon him and of the resolve he had 
made. " And now my friends I hope that I may 
live a better life. I am ready to sign the pledge, 
never to sell or drink another drop of intoxica- 
ting liquor so long as I live." He paused for 
an instant, then slowl}^ raised his right hand to- 
ward heaven and said in a low, solemn tone, "So 
help me God ! amen." It is impossible to describe 
the scene which ensued. Cries and congratula- 
tions, prayers, thanksgivings and tears of joy 
were mingled together in a manner which cannot 
be portrayed. 



556 SCENES AiTD Il^CIDEKTS 

In two weeks the last saloon was closed in the 
village. The hearts of God's children went out 
in prayers of thanks. 

During the temperance campaign in St. Louis, 
a young man who "wasn't a goin' to sign aw^ay 
his liberty," went into a saloon to take the tenth 
drink of the morning. Having imbibed, he 
asked the bar-keeper for a piece of blue ribbon 
in order that he might "just show the people of 
St. Louis a specimen of what so't of a fellah a 
Murphyite was anyhow." The bar-keeper didn't 
keep blue ribbon. But wouldn't a piece of 
orange colored ribbon do? Of course it would. 
And he took the band from off a bunch of cigars 
and handed it to Ms customer. The young liberty- 
lover looped the ribbon in his button-hole and 
sallied out. He had not gone very fai^ when he 
was met by a patriotic son of Erin, who remarked, 
"An' ye're a noice lad to be lloutin' yer colors in 
the faces of dacent people ; now take that, ye 
spalpeen," and he dealt him a terrific blow be- 
tween the eyes. The young man felt a sensation 
of pain, and when some moments afterward he 
gathered himself up from the gutter, he thought 
he had been thunderstruck. 

When Dr. Henry A. Reynolds had completed 
his labors at Alton, Hlinois, and was about to 
depart from that place, a procession of more than 
800 persons, gentlemen and ladies, was formed, 
and headed by a splendid brass band* they 
formed a guard of honor and escorted the doctor 



OF THE CAMPAIGIT. 557 

to the depot. As the train moved away -wMcli 
carried him from them, strains of music floated 
out upon the morning air, and cheer after cheer 
broke forth from the vast crowd which had as- 
sembled at the station to bid him farewelL Thus 
he disappeared from their midst, while hats were 
tossed in air, handkerchiefs waved, and musical 
notes rolled out far over the Mississippi. 

In a town in Kansas, the Blue Ribbon League 
had captured the place. Every saloon-keeper 
had taken the pledge and closed up his bar. 
There were a few hard cases left, however. These 
organized a club for the purpose of having their 
social drinks as usual. A room was hired and 
a stock of liquors brought on. A person known 
as "Texas Bill," was at the head of this move- 
ment, and was made keeper of this club room. 
Bat the temperance revival went on. One by 
one the members of the club surrendered and 
took the pledge. At the first business meeting 
the members concluded to dissolve it. ''Texas 
Bill" was filled with wrath, and threatened all 
sorts of calamities to the people in general who 
had destroyed his trade. The people took the 
matter up. In the language of a local newspa- 
per, "Lone Star State William was escorted to 
the outer limits of town and most afi'ectionately 
kicked out, with a gentle hint to return to that 
place no more." 



CHAPTER XXXm. 

THE OPIUM HABIT 11^ AMEEICA. 

Alcoholic stimulation, great and dreadful as 
are the evils wliicli it inflicts upon society, is 
not the sole source from which danger to the 
public health and public morals is to be appre- 
hended. In the month of February, 1878, the 
newspapers announced the death of a Mr. Mitch- 
ell, at Carthage, Missouri, in consequence of hav- 
ing taken an overdose of opium or some of its 
preparations. This gentleman had been addict- 
ed to alcoholic stimulation, which he had not 
long before given up. But he had given up the 
indulgence in ardent spirits only to resort to a 
more quickly acting and deadly intoxicant. 
The attention of the American people has fre- 
quently been called to the alarmingly rapid 
increase in the amount of this deadl}^ drug an- 
nually consumed in this country. Medical jour- 
nals are often made the vehicle of faithful and 
earnest warnings from physicians, in regard not 
only to the general prevalence of the use of this 
powerful stimulant, but respecting the dreadful 
character of the evils which its use imposes on 



THE OPIUM HABIT IN AMEEICA. 559 

those who resort to it. The daily newspapers, 
too, frequently call attention to the common 
habit of using opium — especially by ladies who 
go much into society, and who are in consequence 
often called upon to "entertain company." Atten- 
tion has been called in a commercial way to the 
increase in importations, which is truly startling. 

Its evil effects already begin to be alarmingly 
manifested. It has become fashionable to take a 
pinch of opium, or a granule of morphine, in 
circles of society where alcoholic liquors are not 
tolerated. In some respects, nay in most re- 
spects, the use of this powerful intoxicant is far 
more deleterious in its effects upon the human 
organism than even the poisonous alcoholic 
com|.)ounds which the American people drink. 

A leading newspaper in the state of Georgia, 
in an article published in the autumn of 1877, 
gave some startling facts concerning the preva- 
lence of the opium habit among the inhabitants 
of that state. Ladies especially are addicted to 
its use. The consumption of the drag in that 
state, it w^as asserted, had "quadrupled in five 
years." More than half the ladies who make 
pretensions to social distinction use opium or 
some of its preparations, and one-third of those 
who use it have already become slaves to its in- 
fluence and can no longer exist without it. 
There is just cause for the most serious appre- 
hension from the general use of this dreadful 
drug in this country. 



560 THE OPIUM HABIT IIT AMEKICA. 

In our land we are just beginning to realize 
the necessity of some legislation that shall con- 
trol the abuse of opium and its compounds, and 
no one dares deny that the same peril which the 
Chinese discerned a century ago may not threaten 
us to-day. 

The opening of Parrish Hall, Brooklyn, N. Y., 
as an asylum for opium cases alone, and the large 
number of patients already gathered, seeking 
relief, are significant hints of the presence of a 
disorder, which, like a malignant disease, will 
soon destroy the vitality of both community and 
nation. 

Touching the history of the growth of the 
opium habit among the Chinese, the Quarterly 
Journal of Inebriety observes that " one of the 
most remarkable chapters in the history of civi- 
lization is the persistent efforts of the Chinese 
Government to prevent the importation and use 
of opium among its people. 

''Over a century ago the Government recognized 
the dangers following the use of this drug, and 
began to legislate against it, punishing the of- 
fenders with banishment or strangulation. 

"The opium was grown in India and smuggled 
into China by English ships, encouraged by the 
English Government, and the sale and demand 
constantly increased. Year after year the Chi- 
nese officials made frantic efforts to check this 
evil. Opium was contraband, and all who were 
found smoking or using the ''black dirt" — as 



THE OPIUM BABIT IN AMEKICA. 561 

they contemptuously called it — were punished 
with death or perpetual servitude. This trade 
brought an increasing revenue to the English 
Government, and they determined to force its 
sale on the Chinese, which was stubbornly re- 
sisted for a long time, until finally it cuhninated 
in a war in 1839, which Mr. Gladstone denounced 
as one calculated to cover the country with per- 
manent disgrace. The Chinese were overcome, 
but nothing definite was gained beyond the forced 
privilege to bring in opium by the English. 

'' In the meantime the growth of the poppy in 
China Increased in spite of all legislation to the 
contrary, and the demand increased, nearly 
doubling in ten years. 

"In 1857 another war was provoked by Eng- 
land, which was literally the great struggle of a 
pagan nation to save itself from the curse of 
opium, which the rapacity of English civiliza- 
tion sought to force upon it, for the mercenary 
purpose of increasing its Indian treasury. 

" The Chinese failed and yielded to the pres- 
sure to admit opium at a fixed duty, which they 
have several times sought to raise, but the Eng- 
lish Government has always refused. A new 
proposal has been made to England to increase 
the duty, and the decision of the government was 
anxiously watched. 

" The extent to which opium is used may be 
realized from the fact that the importation from 
India for 1876 amounted to over seven millions 



562 THE OPIUM HABIT IN AMEEICA. 

of pounds ; to this may be added over a million 
more pounds raised in the country. 

"It is estimated that no less than six millions 
of people both chew and smoke this drug con- 
stantly. 

"If these figures are correct, we cannot wonder 
that the Chinese Government is alarmed, and 
have at last determined upon a new movement 
for "stamping out" this terrible evil. An edict 
has been issued forbidding the culture of the 
poppy after 1879, in any part of the kingdom, 
and prohibiting all importation after 1880 ; also 
an edict has been sent to all the governors and 
leading generals of the provinces, requiring them 
to submit plans of laws, which shall be enacted, 
and effectually do away with the use of 
opium, under pain of death, after a period of 
three j^ears. 

" The result of this wonderful struggle will be 
one of the great events of the century. The 
sagacity of the Chinese officials in recognizing 
the fatal effects of the introduction and use of 
opium, and in persistent opposition, extending 
over a century, furnishes a lesson to our boasted 
civilization which we cannot afford to lose." 

The demoralizing effects of the use of this drug 
cannot be doubted. The Amador, California, 
Ledger, of October 12th, 1877, contained the fol- 
lowing terrible picture of the degradation which 
follows the use of this vile intoxicant: 

"A short time ago we drew attention to the 



trilE OPIUM HABIT IN AMEEICA. 563 

fact that white men and women were in the hahit 
of visiting the Chinese dens in Sutter Creek to 
smoke opium with the heathen inmates. 
The statement is revolting to humanity, but 
it is a sober fact. What is worse, the vice is on 
the increase. 

"There is a live Caucasian camp at Sutter 
Creek, and one or two of the most prominent 
members kept a watchful eye upon the opium 
dens and their white frequenters. When we last 
referred to the subject, the black list included 
four or five persons; now eight to ten whites oc- 
cupy a place on the roll. These men and women, 
recreant to the instincts of their race, mtist feel a 
pride at the distinction of having their names 
inscribed upon such a muster-roll. For those 
who have entered this downward path, there is 
no redemption. They are outside the lines of 
humanity, where the shame blush never mantles 
the cheek; where all sense of decency is lost, all 
yearnings after the good and true are dead — 
throttled by the desperate grip of this monster 
vice. Any effort to rescue these will be in vain. 
There is no recall from the fascinating ways that 
seem to lead up into Paradise, but which even- 
tually open a veritable hell in the soul. 

"A man or woman who hesitates not to break 
loose from the ties of kindred and seek the com- 
panionship of an alien race for the purpose of 
indulging in as filthy and debasing a practice as 
ever trapped our nature in its meshes, is an ob- 
18 



564 THE OPIUM HABIT m AMERICA. 

ject of pity, but liardly of reformation. When 
children who have only just learned to toddle, 
are being nurtured in this horrible vice, it is 
surely time that something were done to stay its 
march. 

*'It is only a few evenings ago that a gentleman 
looked into an opium den in Sutter Creek, from 
motives of curiosity, perhaps, when a sight met 
his gaze which is imprinted forever upon his 
memory. A white woman, and a mother, was 
there stupefied by opium. Near her was her off- 
spring, an interesting girl of tender years. The 
child was too drunk to stand — drunk from smok- 
ing opium. The besotted mother had taken her 
offspring to the den to initiate her into the mys- 
teries of the poisonous fume. To the parent 
there was a heaven of delight in the drug, and 
she thought she was doing the little one a kind- 
ness by leading her in the same fatal pathway. 

"There was also a boy not yet in his teens, like- 
wise in a state of stupefaction from the same 
cause. Traffic in opium is made quite an item 
of revenue by the Chinese proprietors of these 
dens. They sell it to their white customers and 
teach them how to use it. 

*'When scenes like these are being enacted at 
our very doors, when the health and vigor of the 
coming generation are threatened, it is time that 
something was done to stay the curse. The 
Amador Assemblymen are pledged, so we are 
reliably informed, to introduce a bill making it 



THE OPIUM HABIT m AMEEICA. 565 

a penal offense to sell opinm. Let them carry 
out their promises in this regard and they will 
win the thanks of all." 

Dr. Parrish, founder of the Parrish Hall Asylum 
for the reception and treatment of patients addict- 
ed to the use of opium, has written several able 
tracts and a volume of profound interest on the 
subject of the evils growing out of the use of this 
drug. He has arrived at the conclusion that an 
opium eater or smoker long addicted to its use 
cannot emancipate himself from the habit with- 
out the aid of restraint and medical treatment 
such as may be obtained in an asylum especially 
adapted for the purpose. The celebrated work 
of Thomas De Qaincey, "The Confessions of an 
Opium Eater," furnishes, so far as our informa- 
tion goes, the only well authenticated case of a 
person thoroughly under the influence of the habit, 
by an exercise of his own will-power freeing him- 
self from the fetters which bound him. But De 
Quincey was an extraordinary man. Not every 
one can be supposed to possess his power of 
self-regulation. The weight of testimony favors 
the opinion that a confirmed opium-eater cannot 
or will not free himself from the fascinations of 
the intoxication from this poisonous agent. 

Dr Parrish proves that the use of opium among 
the American people is already alarming]}^ com- 
mon. The proof of this statement is furnished in 
the immense number of the applicants for admis- 

son to the Parrish Hall Asylum, in a very brief 
18 



566 THE OPIUM HABIT IN AMEEICA. 

time after it was opened. Commercial statistics 
also may be brought forward as evidence. The 
figures as given by Dr. Parrish present an alarm- 
ing picture of the increased consumption of opium 
by the American people. 

'' In 1860 there were 105,000 pounds for a popu- 
tion of 31,000,000. In 1867, 136,000 pounds for 
37,000,000. In 1876, 228,000 pounds for 40,000,- 
000. The increase in the importations for 1867 
over those of 1860 was therefore 30 per cent., 
against an increase in population of 20 per cent. 
In 1876 the importations were nearly 70 per cent, 
more than those of 1867, while the population had 
only increased 10 per cent. By such wonderful 
strides has the increase for the last sixteen years 
proceeded, thus proving beyond a doubt the 
frightful rapidity with which the demand for 
opium is spreading throughout the country, and 
this, too, against the double obstacle of a heavy 
cost and a high tariff. This is, of course, without 
any calculation for smoking opium, morphine 
and quantities brought in by smugglers, which, if 
added, would necessarily make the already wide 
difference of the ratios still larger." 

The people who consume this vast amount of 
opium, are not tramps and jail-birds, but the in- 
tellectual and high social classes. Literary and 
professional men are most likely to become 
opium eaters, among men, while the female vic- 
tims of the habit are most frequently recruited 
from the ranks of the most fashionable classes. 



THE OPIUM HABIT IN AMEKICA. 567 

Needle women, as a class, also furnish a portion 
of tlie victims. The largest percentage of the 
women victims of the opium habit, however, are 
recruited from the ranks of the belles who fre- 
quent Long Branch, Saratoga, Newport, Cape 
May, and other fashionable places of resort. 

There can be no question as to the deleterious 
effects of opium on the health and morals of the 
people. The scenes witnessed daily and nightly 
in the opium dens of San Francisco, Sacramento, 
and other places in California,and at Virginia City 
testify concerning the dreadful influence of this 
Indian drug. No wonder the Chinese Govern- 
ment protested against its introduction into that 
kingdom. It is the shame of civilization that all 
the demoralization which exists among the 
heathen people of Eastern Asia, should have been 
the direct result of the avarice of a civilized and 
Christian government. In forcing opium on the 
Chinese in the face of the bitterest opposition, 
and by a resort to war, the English Government 
committed tlie crime of our times. 

A writer in a New York periodical asserted 
that there were in the United States no less than 
240,000 confirmed opium drunkards in the year 
1877, and the number was steadily on the increase. 
The high price at which opium is sojd and the 
amount consumed tell a painful story of waste, 
only exceeded by that caused through the indul- 
gence of alcoholic stimulation in tlie great ac- 
count of drunkenness among the American peo- 



568 THE OPIUM HABIT i:!^- AMERICA. 

pie. In 1877 there were imported into the United 
States 312,000 pounds of opium. The legitimate 
consumption of the drug does not exceed 120,000 
pounds. Indeed, in 1860, 31,000,000 of people 
managed to get along with 105,000 pounds. But 
suppose 130,000 pounds be legitimately required, 
and still the amount left for base uses exceeded 
180.000 pounds — to be exact, 182,000 pounds, or 
2,912,000 ounces, apothecaries' weight. This vast 
amount of opium, at seventy-five cents per ounce, 
amounted to the enormous sum of §2,184,000 
spent in one year for a deadly, stupifying intoxi- 
cant. 

There is and can be no greater evil to befall 
the country than the general prevalence of this 
vice. It is far more fatal in effect than alcohol, 
because its action is swifter; hence the demorali- 
zation arising from its use is greater. 

" The use of opium," observes an eminent 
physician, " absolutely annihilates the moral 
sense in its victims w^hen long persisted in. In- 
deed it is a powerful incitant in certain stages of 
itQ influence to lewd and immoral acts. At the 
last it leaves its victim without vigor of mind or 
body. It effects the most complete wreck of all 
the vital functions of any excitant or intoxica- 
ting substance yet discovered." 

Now, here is an evil yet in its infancy, but 
great in its power, which every reformer should 
battle against. We know that it exists, that it 
is increasing, that it is deadly in the grasp with 



THE OPIUM HABIT IIT AMEKICA. 569 

which it seizes its victims. In California a bill 
was pending before the legislature at the middle 
of February, 1878, making the unauthorized sale 
of opium by any one a felony, punishable by 
imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of 
not less than five years. In view of ihe threat- 
ened danger to the morals and health of the 
people, what will the social reformers of the 
United States do ? Time is tremulous for an an- 
swer. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THOUSANDS OF CAPTIVES DISENTHEALLEB. 

The struggle against the enemy of peace and 
love in homes goes on, as it has gone on for half 
a century or more. The long established cus- 
toms of mankind are not easily overthrown. The 
battle of civilization was not fought in a day or 
year or century. What has been accomplished 
by all the toil and thought, and energy of mind 
and soul engaged to put down the monster vice? 
Has the world been regenerated? Have we seen 
the dawning of the light of a brighter age? In 
the first place, much has been accomplished. 
The venerable decanter has disappeared from 
hundreds of thousands of homes, and what was 
once held to be a proper way to show hospitali- 
ty and good will, is now excluded from social 
life with rigid severity. Thousands, nay mil- 
lions, have been lifted up from degradation's 
depths to lives of usefulness and honor among 
their fellows. And now, the thoughtful student 
of human actions and the world's great move- 
ments looks out toward the future, and discerns 
the iridescent gleams of a coming day of efful- 



CAPTIVES DISENTHRALLED. 571 

gent glories. The liglit must Ibreak out from the 
gloom at last. Great objects are not accom- 
plished without great efforts. Mankind must 
pay the price of progress in order to attain it. 
One by one great evils have been conquered 
by civilization. Feudalism, venerable and 
mighty, was at last overthrown. Slavery was 
doomed finally, and eliminated from among the 
institutions of civilized society. So one day 
drunkenness will be destroyed, and disappear 
along with the debris of other great wrongs. Th^ 
ages move on, and out of thought come new 
conceptions of life and duty. Agitation proceeds, 
and new ideas ar| born, and civilization is ad- 
vanced only through the discussion. There is 
little opposition now among thoughtful people to 
the fundamental principles which the temper- 
ance advocates hold. The use of alcoholic bev- 
erages is no longer defensible. Mankind has 
come to understand that no possible injury to 
persons or to society at large, can follow the 
general prevalence of abstention from strong 
drink. But it is a matter of absolute knowledge 
that drunkenness inflicts injuries upon the per- 
son and is demoralizing to society. Does tem- 
perance do any harm ? Does intemperance ac- 
complish any good, individually or socially? 
The answer to the first of these questions is 
obviously a negative one, and so the other must 
be answered without reservation, that intemper- 
ance can do no good to the intemperate and must 



572 THOUSANDS OF 

inflict wounds npon the whole social body. The 
question is settled that intemperance is an un- 
mixed evil. The only question which can divide 
thoughtful men on this subject, is in regard to 
the means which shall be employed to establish 
temperance as the normal condition of society ? 
The question is one of expediency. Is it expedi- 
ent to attempt to eradicate intemperance through 
legislation? Can temperance be established 
through moral suasion alone ? Ought the laws 
to sanction the continuance of a recognized and 
conceded evil ? Ought l»he rights of individuals 
to indulge in a demoralizing habit to be infringed 
upon by legislative action ? These are the forms 
of questions upon which the battles of the future 
are to be fought. It is not difficult, even now, to 
forecast the result. The right must and will pre- 
vail, for God is on that side, and he doeth all 
things well. The only question which remains 
to be discussed, therefore, is the one in regard to 
the extent to which legislation may be made 
subservient to the cause of temperance — to the 
purification of society. Human reason, science, 
and the conceptions of morality prevalent in the 
world, are opposed to intemperance and recog- 
nize the use of alcohol as injurious to health and 
destructive of moral principles. Should the laws 
of a state permit it to Joe sold? It is not our pur- 
pose to discuss this question. 

The great activity in the temperance agitation 
which swept the entire country during the last 



CAPTIVES DISENTHKALLED. 573 

half of tlie year 1877 and the early part of the 
year 1878, was followed by astonishing results, 
an account of which have appeared in these 
pages. 

In Springfield, Massachusetts, Mr. Francis 
Murphy, aided for two days by Messrs. Moody 
and Sankey, the great gospel evangelists, held a 
series of meetings in January, 1878, unparalleled 
in the interest awakened among the people. 
Night after night, vast audiences, composed of 
people from surrounding towns, and recruited 
by an outpouring of the citizens of Springfield, 
were gathered at several diff'erent places in the 
city, because no structure was found sufficiently 
capacious to accommodate the immense throngs 
attracted to the meetings conducted by these 
singularly earnest men. It was a marvelous up- 
rising, and the ingathering of rescued men won- 
derful. The spirit of tlie meetings was thus de- 
scribed by the Springfield Union : 

"Throngs of people crowd their way to the 
Murphy meetings. Nothing will keep them at 
home. The appeals of the press to all good citi- 
zens, the commands of the priests, the scoffings 
of the liquor- dealers, are all incapable of staying 
the tide of humanity that flows into the presence 
of the great reformer. There seems to be a 
magic in the very name of Francis Murphy, that 
draws the poor drunkard from his degradation 
to reciprocate the love of his benefactor." The 
noon-day prayer meeting of one Saturday in 



574 THOUSANDS OF 

January was made especially interesting "by the 
presence of Messrs. Moody, Sankey, "Whittle and 
McGranahan, all of whom participated. 

The manner of Mr. Moody in a great temper- 
ance revival is^ thus described : 

'' Mr. Moody first expounded in a characteris- 
tic manner a portion of the 103d psalm. The 
Lord forgaveth all our iniquities. If you are go- 
ing to be his child, it is not enough to give up one 
sin — perhaps the sin is drunkenness ; we want 
all our sins forgiven, and the Lord makes thorough 
work of it. Some say that the appetite for drink 
is inherited; no doubt it is sometimes, but God 
healeth all our diseases. You may bind up a 
wound, but the wound is there until it is healed ; 
God heals. Next, He ^' redeemeth thy life from 
destruction," (who can say that like the man 
who has been down into the ditch ?) then "He 
crowneth thee." There are many crowned heads 
that are uneasy ; but Christ '' satisfieth " us, and 
what more can there be than that ? See the five 
precious promises compressed into three verses 
of the psalm — God will forgive, heal, redeem, 
crown, and satisfy us. After Mr. Murphy had 
read numerous requests for prayer, a fervent pe- 
tition was offered by Mr. Moody, followed by 
prayers by Rev. A. K. Potter, Mr. Sankey and 
Mr. Murphy. Mr. Sankey then sang a touching 
little song by the late P. P. Bliss, which recalled 
to Mr. Mur]3hy a sad incident in his own life, the 
death of bis child, He also told bow be first 



. CAPTIVES BiSENTHRALLEi). 57S 

heard of Mr. Moody from an outcast, who ex- 
claimed, "Oh, I wish you could hear him! He 
didn't graduate, hut he preaches ! " 

Among the converts at Springfield was the son 
of one of the most prominent men in the city. 
Mr. Foot, for that was the gentleman's name, was 
regarded as a dilRcultman to deal with, on such 
an occasion. Educated, able and subtle as a rea- 
soner, he had acquired the habit of drinking in- 
toxicants. By some irresistible impulse he was 
drawn to the Murphy meetings. And he yielded 
to the persuasive eloquence of Francis Murphy 
and D. L. Moody, signed the pledge, and amid the 
cheers of the vast audience assembled in the city 
hall he was called to Wv^ rostrum to address the 
audience. ' His speech was characteristic and 
able. ISTot even Mr. Moody or Mr. Murphy caused 
more enthusiasm than that which greeted the 
new convert as he finished. The ladies waved 
their handkerchiefs, one of the clergymen pro- 
posed three cheers for him, and the entire audi- 
ence responded, while Mr. Murphy added a 
"tiger" that set it wild again. The capture of Mr. 
Foot was an achievement that had a telling eff'ect 
on many other young men. He received the 
'congratulations of a large number of friends. 

Dr. Rankin was then introduced and said 
that when he was in Elmira, N. Y., after his 
reform, he was walking throngh the streets with 
a blue ribbon in his button-hole, when one loafer 
asked another who he was. The reply was : " Oh ! 



576 THOUSANDS OF 

he's one of Murphy's "babies." "I am one of 
Murphy's Tbabies," said the Doctor, "but I've been 
weaned from the bottle." 

The meeting at the city hall one afternoon had 
an audience equal in size to any of the preceding 
meetings, yet largely made up of persons who had 
never heard Mr. Murphy before, as only that class 
were admitted till within a half hour of the time 
of opening. As a part of the customary intro- 
ductory exercises, Mr, Murphy read the parable 
of the prodigal son, and his subsequent address 
was a familiarly told picture of the career of such 
a prodigal now-a-days. 

Francis Murphy must possess some mysterious 
power over the souls of men. It is seldom that 
such tributes have been rendered to any man, as 
have been freely poured out at the feet of this 
Apostle. At Springfield he carried everything, 
taming even the cynical conductors of the press, 
and exciting the muse to pour forth impassioned 
notes. It is rare that a more vigorous or touch- 
ing poem than the one which we give below ap- 
pears in the columns of a newspaper. No apol- 
ogy is necessary for its reproduction in these 
pages. It was a contribution to the Springfield 
Republican ^ and deserves to live as one of the best 
contributions of the muse in our country. An 
immRuse amount of doggerel is apt to be generat- 
ed during any popular movement, but this produc- 
tion is one of those really worth remembering 
for the rest of a life time. 



CAPTIVES DISENTHRALLED. 677 

"A MAN AGAIN! A MAN!" 

Francis Murphy in his Speech at City Hall, Jan- 
uary 22. 
Another noble victor of himself, — 

"A man again*' who was by self enslaved; 
A prophet bold, foretelling to despair 

That (i'en its lowest victim may be saved ; 
A new apostle of that grandest faith 

That none should e'er be lost in human eyes 
While Heaven's eternal mercy spans the earth 

Alight and warm with God's own sacrifice, 
Which calleth, on and on, and o'er and o'er. 

For man's own love unto his fellow men, 
For man himself his birthrighi to respect 

And be in God's design, ''a man again." 
The olden song hath caught a sweeter strain, 
The olden words new meaning now attain, 
Still farther spreads the Gospel's sacred leaven, 
And hearts grow nearer to the heart of Heaven, 

The colder dogmas of a colder age 

That had not caught the fullness of God's lovo 
Now melt before a sun bent zenithward 

With rays which fall more nearly from above, 
And gentle hearts that soonest feel the glow 

And kindle quickly in the warmer blaze, 
Now raine the torch within the gloomy cells 

Of chained souls, and spread the cheering rays 
Which show that darknes;* may bo turned to light, 

That degradation holds puissant men^ 
Each one of whom hath power be dreams not of, 

To break hia bands and be *'a man again." 
A man, endowed by God with godlike soul 
Immortal, free and strong, beyond control 



578 THOtJSAisrDS oi' 

Of base and brutal passions; made to bd 
The lord of time and of eternity. 

A man again ! A man ! Oh ye who deem 

That ye are men because 3'e seem or are 
From low, material vices free, unwont 

The semblances of manhood's rank to mar, — 
Know ye that this impassioned utterance 

"Would bo of half its real meaning shorn 
If but applied to one who had not known 

The glory of a spirit doubly born ? 
More than a man again, a brighter man 

Than he who fell, was ho who saw the charm, 
On Kearsarge's height, in limpid mountain spring 

And earth and sky, of Nature's silent psalm, 
A grand entrancing poem, page on page, 
That sings Jehovah's praise from age to age, 
And thrills the spirit touched with heavenly fire 
As music thrills the minstrel's tuned wire. 

And let the watchword pass : Be *' men again ! " 

Be better men than e'er ye were before; 
What man hath done may yet be done as well, 

What (lod hath dowe He does forever more. 
Who asks His guidance drinks romaddeHingdraught 

In fetid bar-room or the gay saloon, 
He drinks from higher spring than mountain holds, 

From purer stream than that of Nature's boon; 
A draught of inspiration from the skies, 

Of strength that no temptation can assail, 
Of happiness whoso peace foretelleth Heaven, 

Of hope that prophesies reality. 
A Father's hand presents the chalice bright,— 
Immortal vintage for immortal men, — 



CAPTIVES DISENTHPwALLED. 579 

Whoeo subtle essence wakes the sleeping soul 
And makes the lullen more then men again ! 
Springfield, January 25, 1878. E. S. T, 

When Francis Murphy departed from Spring- 
field, about 16,000 names had been signed to the 
pledge. 

In Syracuse, Rochester, TJtica, Hornellsville, 
Elmira and a hundred other places in New York, 
like success attended the efforts of the disciples 
of temperance. Not thousands, but hundreds 
of thousands of men and women were recruited 
for the grand army of total abstainers in that state. 

The line of the Hudson was occupied fully in 
January, 1878, by the grand army led by Francis 
Murphy in person. 

In the great cities a work was accomplished 
of which little account was taken by the secular 
press. Yet in places dark and grimy the light 
was being let in by an army of workers, whose 
deeds may never be fitly remembered on earth, 
but who in the future will receive their crowns 
which shall outshine the stars forever. 

In New York a prominent journal was con- 
strained to admit that "the inroads made by the 
temperance fanatics in this city are undoubtedly 
underrated by the majority of the newspapers of 
the metropolis. A low estimate of the number 
who have taken the total abstinence pledge in 
six months, places the number at more than 250,- 
000 in the three cities, New York, Brooklyn aud 
Jersey Citys" 



580 THOUSANDS OF 

The war made -apon tlie liquor-selling interest 
"by Dr. Howard Crosby excited a profound inter- 
est and caused no Jittle excitement. An associa- 
tion was formed to insist upon the enforcement 
of the laws, as interpreted by the Court of Ap- 
peals. Meanwhile the liquor interests, backed 
by vast capital and political influence, and aided 
in their desiorns bv the recommendation of Gov- 
ernor Robinson, invaded the halls of legislation 
at Albany, and sought to secure an amendment 
to the excise laws. Bills for that purpose were 
introduced early in the session, the passage of 
which would have rendered nugatory the de- 
cision of the courts. But the temperance men 
were prepared for this movement of the rum-&el- 
lers. Through the exertions of Dr. Crosby their 
forces were equally as well organized as the 
liquor venders' leagues. The interior represen- 
tatives were firm, and in many towns anti-license 
officials were elected. The prospects of the 
wishes of the whisky interests being complied 
with were exceedingly uncertain. 

In Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Baltimore, Wash- 
ington, Cincinnati, Buffalo, Chicago and St. Louis 
great good was effected. 

In Chicago pains were taken to carefully 
watch the conduct of the reformed drunkards, 
many of whom had united with churches. 
The results proved that the hopes of the 
enemies of the temperance cause that the 
rescued would speedily return to their oM ways, 



CAPTIVES DISENTHRALLED. 581 

were liappily for the country doomed to disap- 
pointment. 

The Rev. H. H. Kellogg, one of the pastors of 
Chicago, gave the following testimony as to the 
permanence of the reform work of Mr. Moody 
among the intemperate of that city. The letter 
appeared in the Burlington Hawlceye : " Dr. Gib- 
son, of the Second Presbyterian Church, said, 
' We received over one hundred, and I do not 
know of one who has dishonored his profession.' 
Dr. Kittredge, of the Third Presbyterian 
Church, said, ' We received between two and 
three hundred, and they appear quite as well as 
the average of any other members.' Dr. Thomp- 
son, of the Fifth Presbyterian Church, said, 'We 
received one hundred and fifteen, and all walk 
worthily. Of these, six were very hard cases of 
drunkards reformed, all of whom stand firm.' " 
Mr. Kellogg also stated that gospel temperance 
meetings were held throughout the year in Far- 
well Hall, and were attended by hundreds of 
persons. 

St. Louis was a hard place to attack. With 
its 3,000 drinking saloons and places where a 
drink can be had, and the total indifi'erence 
of a vast majority of even the religious portion 
of the community, coupled with the openly ex- 
pressed enmity of another large and influential el- 
ement among its citizens, theboldestmight wellbe 
deterred. • Accordingly, the leaders went through 
and passed by the great sinful city without rais- 



582 THOUSAI^-DS OF 

ing a single cry of warning. Such is tlie history 
of ages. Jonah was a prophet, and yet he shrank 
from making a proclamation announcing coming 
destruction to the great city of Nineveh. And 
Reynolds and Murphy and E. H. Campbell came 
and looked upon the mighty hive, and passed on. 
But St. Louis was not destined to escape. When 
Francis Murphy was conducting his great revival 
in Pittsburg, among the 40,000 turned from their 
evil ways was Henry E-eis, once a man of large 
property and influence in the community, but 
who had squandered his fortune, alienated his 
friends and sunk into the bogs of degradation. 
But Murphy came ; the way was pointed out to 
him, and he resolved to travel therein. He be- 
came himself a preacher of temperance and 
righteousness. He arrived in St. Louis on the 
first of ^November, 1877. He consulted a number 
of ministers about the feasibility of inaugurating 
the temperance movement in St. Louis. These 
thought ic inadvisable. Mr. Keis worked along 
in a quiet way for sometime, when the Young 
Men's Christian Association sent him on a mis- 
sion to Bunker Hill, Hlinois, where he labored 
for a season and then returned to St. Louis. He 
was the first of the temperance workers who 
came to St. Louis. Subsequently, Capt. Richard 
H. O'lSTei], of Detroit, Michigan, came to St. Louis. 
The first meeting was held January 8, 1878, at 
the Friendly Inn, Broadway, under the auspices 
of Captain Richard H. O'IS'eil and Henry Reis. 



6A:Pf IVES BISEI^THRALLEB. 583 

Then the meetings were continued. The next 
one was held at Fairmount Church, Bremen ave- 
nue. A Murphy Blue Ribbon meeting was held 
under the direction of Henry Reis, at Mound 
Market Hall. During the meeting, Michael Lan- 
agan, another Pittsburg convert, made his ap- 
pearance, much to the joy of Mr. Reis, who could 
not but feel that God had sent him in answer to 
his prayers. Subsequently meetings were held 
in the Court-house, in Mercantile Library Hall, 
in the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, at 
the Bethel Hall, at the Friendly Inn and at the 
Eighth Street M. E. Church South. These meet- 
ings were addressed by Rev. Mr. Bushong, Cap- 
tain R. H. O'Neil, Henry Reis, R. R. Scott, Mi- 
chael Lanagan, H. Clay Sexton, Commodore W. 
F. Davidson and others, and under their intiu- 
ence many were turned away to walk in the paths 
of sobriety. Before the middle of February it 
was stated that 9,000 persons in St. Louis had 
taken the pledge. So the work proceeded. 

One other branch of this vast subject, the cause 
and cure of inebriation, we are compelled to 
merely allude to. although its importance de- 
mands a separate treatise. This is the cure of 
certain victims of alcoholic stimulation, who 
have become so diseased as to be incapable 
of exerting the will power necessary to ensure 
a recovery and emancipation from the thraldom 
of the terrible vice. 

The establishment of asylums or retreats for 



584 THOtJSAI^DS OP 

confirmed inebriates, was a conception of Dr. 
Albert Day, of Boston, who opened the first insti- 
tution of the kind in the world — the Washing- 
tonian Home of Boston. Since that was opened, 
quite a large number of other institutions have 
been established. Among the best known of the 
Inebriate Asylums, is the Binghamton Asylum, 
an institution established by an act of the legis- 
lature of the state of New York. This as^ylum 
has two classes of inmates; those who go there 
voluntarily, and those who are sentenced to a 
term there under the laws of the state for habitu- 
al drunkenness. These sentences are usually 
for from six to twelve months. Experience dem- 
onstrates that the number of recoveries among 
those forcibly under restraint is greater than 
among those voluntarily resident in the institu- 
tion for treatment. On this point we have some 
Important testimony. 

The commissioners appointed during the year 
1877 by the mayor of Boston to consider and 
make report on the treatment of drunkenness in 
the city institutions and in private asylums, and 
to ascertain what measures could be taken to 
reform the intemperate under confinement In the 
city institutions, presented their report to the 
board of aldermen, and reported favorably of 
the success of the efforts which had been made. 
They said, "With all the disadvantages under 
these voluntary institutions labor, 40 to 50 per 
cent, of those resorting to them are restored to 



CAPTIVES BISENTHEALLED. 685 

habits of sobriety and industry. The elements 
of weakness common to them all, aside from the 
question of time, are the lack of sufficient control 
over their inmates and of adequate means of 
employing them. The admirable state institu- 
tion at Binghamton, N. Y., which has a volun- 
tary department, in its somewhat exceptional 
experience, illustrates both the possible strength 
and the actual weakness of such asylums. With 
the most excellent appointments and ample 
means of employment, its inmates, committed 
under the laws of the state for a term of less 
than a year, are easily controlled and are treated 
with marked success; while the voluntary mem- 
bers are the chief source of difficulty, and pre- 
sent results relatively unsatisfactory. With 
regular occupation and suitable educational and 
moral influences, a very large per cent, of these 
slaves of the cup may be restored to the dignity 
of*good citizens." 

There are asylums in Philadelphia, Chicas:o, 
ISTew York City, and St. Louis, under the control 
of private associations. The Sisters of Charity 
have institutions in various cities, where inebri- 
ates are treated. St. Vincent's, St. Louis, is per- 
haps the first founded of any of such institutions 
under the control of this noble sisterhood. 
Through it great good has been accomplished. 
Some of the worst cases of confirmed inebriation 
have been treated and have been entirel}^ cured. 

The St. Louis Sanitarium is another institution 



MotiSANBS OF 

wliicli has "been open for the reception of patients 
about three years. It is under the direction of 
that noble temperance worker, Dr. C. T. Widney. 
A large number of patients have been treated 
with marked .success. Many have been com- 
pletely disenthralled from the slavery of the 
tyrant "Whisky. 

The Washingtonian Home of Chicago is an in- 
stitution which is engaged in the treatment of 
inebriates. We have no data of the amount or 
value of the services which it is rendering to the 
cause of temperance. 

In regard to the complete restoration of drunk- 
ards, who find themselves poor as well as degrad- 
ed, the Rev. Edward Everett Hale made an inter- 
esting contribution to the discussion before the 
State Total Abstinence Society at Boston, in a 
plan which he says has been more or less on 
his mind for thirty years, for the colonization of 
poor men who wish to break from the liquor habit, 
but have not made themselves liable to confine- 
ment in the reformatory^schools. Men of means 
sometimes move for a time to temperance towns 
and remain there till the moral strength is restor- 
ed, and Mr. Hale's plan is to secure this retreat 
for poor men by a system of labor contracts for 
two or three years, similar to the enlistment in 
the army or navy. Some island, like Penikese 
or Cuttyhuhk, in Buzzard's bay, could be secured, 
and cheap dwellings built, with small allotments 
of land to each, and with large farms, shoe shops 



CAPTIVES DISENTHEALLED. 587 

or othei' industries. The class of men for whom 
it is intended, Mr. Hale thinks, would jump at the 
offer to be hired with their families for two or 
three years. It is just what they and their wives 
pray for, and with comfortable houses and gar- 
dens, food without ruin and society, without temp- 
tation, the men would, before their contracts 
expired, be new men in body and ambition, and 
perhaps be able to buy their little homes and re- 
main in them. 

The world is moving on. The things cherished 
a few short years ago are thrown aside with 
loathing now. There will come a time yet when 
the curse of intemperance will be removed from 
the haunts of civilization. Men will despise what 
is now exercising a fascinating spell over hun- 
dreds of thousands of people. 

A newspaper correspondent, writing for the 
Hartford (Conn.) Times^ tells about the people 
whom he met in the alms-house at Washington 
City. And the story, though simply told, is 
eloquent in the sad truths it conveys. One of 
the first men he met there had been at one time 
Attorney-General of Virginia. In his office a 
number of now distinguished lawyers were 
students, and they owe much to his advice. His 
father had been Attorney -General of the United 
States, and left his son wealth; but he drank, 
and sacrificed distinction, fortune, and every- 
thing, for drink. 

Another distinguished pauper was an ex-judge 



588 TH0USAITDSJ3F 

of the Supreme Court of California, and had 
been esteemed one of the most eloquent men of 
his time. He came to Washington to get an 
office, was disappointed, took to drink, and drank 
himself out of pocket, mind and friends, into the 
poor house. 

In his company the correspondent found a 
once wealthy newspaper editor and proprietor, of 
New York, a man of great political influence. 
This man also sunk all he possessed in whisky, 
and has been for three years in the -almshouse. 
Sometimes his friends take him out, ^'but," says 
the correspondent, "he drinks so much that he 
lies about the streets, and is returned by the 
police." 

In another branch of the institution the cor- 
respondent found an ex-Attorney-General of 
North' Carolina. He made many friends, drank 
much whisky, neglected his business and every- 
thing else, and drifted to the poor house. Says 
the correspondent, "The principal reason for his 
being put where he now is, is that he stole a 
friend's vest and sold it for whisky." To such 
depths of degradation will whisky bring the 
strongest and ablest of us. 

A man who was Stephen A. Douglas' intimate 
friend, and who used to speak from the same 
platforms with him, is a Washington pauper* 
When fortune smiled on him he used liquor as a 
relish, and when her smiles turned to frowns, he 



CAPTIVES DISENTHEALLED. 589 

took it as antidote for sorrow. It brought Mm 
temporary relief, but permanent ruin. 

Coming into the almshouse in the Black Maria, 
as the correspondent left it, was an old white 
haired man who was at one time one of the lead- 
ing men of the Michigan bar. He is the man who 
backed Zach Chandler, and made him, politically- 
speaking, what he became. 

And this man of great legal ability, political 
influence to make and unmake men, and much 
wealth, is now a pauper. Why ? Because he al- 
lowed whisky to obtain the mastery over him, as 
did all the others herein referred to. Do not you, 
young man, find this record very suggestive ? 

What shall we do, reader ? Under peculiar in- 
fluence, hundreds and thousands of once hopeless 
drunkards are becoming sober men, yet the work 
of reform has but commenced. For drunkenness 
there is and can be no apology, but the condition 
of the drunkard is often pitiable in the extreme. 
However gradual or respectable may have been 
his progress in the descent called temperate 
drinking, the appetite is now formed within him 
— the drunkard's appetite. Wretched man ! He 
feels what not faintly resembles the gnawing of 
" the worm that never dies.'' There are times 
when he would give the world to be reformed. 
Every drunkard's life, could it be written, would 
tell this in letters of fire. He struggles to resist 
the temptations, causes himself to be shut up in 
prison, seeks new alliances and new employ- 



690 THOUSANDS OP 

ments, wrestles, agonizes, Ibut all in vain. Who 
will come to liis rescue ? Who will aid in the 
deliverance of thousands of thousands from this 
debasing thraldom of sin and Satan ? Aid they 
must have. Their personal degradation and suf- 
fering require it. What would we not do to pull 
a neighbor out of the fire, or out of the water, 
or wrest him from the hand of a pirate or mid- 
night assassin ? But what captivity, what pirate, 
what murderer is so cruel as Alcohol ? But what 
can we do ? How can we aid the poor unfortu- 
nate drunkard ? All can do a little. Some can 
do much. Every man can get out of the way of 
his reform ; cease setting him an example which 
proves his ruin ; cease selling him an article 
which is death to the soul, discountenance the 
drinking usages of society, and those licensed and 
unlicensed dram-shops which darken every land. 
The way to get up a temperance revival has 
been pointed out in this volume. The form of 
both the Red and Blue Ribbon Club pledges are 
given. The forms of constitutions are also pre- 
sented. It would be an easy matter to get up a 
revival of the temperance cause, almost anywhere. 
Let not the citizens of a single hamlet, village or 
town, wait for the coming of some evangelist of 
renown to lead in the movement. In hundreds of 
places, as we have seen, glorious results have fol- 
lowed the spontaneous efforts of the leading citi- 
zens. This great work ought to go on. Let the 
prominent citizens of every town come together, 



CAPTIVES DISENTHRALLED. 591 

consult concerning ways and means, and com- 
mence tlie work. With, this volume as a 
guide, the reform movement may be commenced 
anywhere. Let therefore the temperance men in 
every community begin at once. Form your 
own clubs and leagues, call meetings in your 
towns, and at school houses in country places. 
Preach the Gospel of Temperance ; unite all your 
moral forces ; let the pastors come together, and 
help the forces, and God will bless the effort. 

That is the way they did at Jackson, Tennessee. 
" The Murphy movement " was simply the spon- 
taneous action of the friends of temperance. 
When the people had gone to work, the pastors 
of all the churches opened their doors, and 
further, they came together and endorsed the 
movement and laid their hands to the work. The 
result was 1,700 persons were pledged to total 
abstinence within a few days. 

There is work for all. Let it be done "while 
it is called to-day, for the night cometh when no 
man can work." In the great life to be hereafter 
revealed, let the conscience burn not through un- 
told cycles of damnation, because we have seen 
those who were ready to perish and uttered no 
warning. 



